PBOT must slash $16 million to balance budget

Gas taxes aren’t keeping up because of less driving and fuel efficient vehicles, that’s great news. The water bureau raised rates years ago, people conserved so they still had a budget shortfall, so they raised them again. It’s simple raise the the gas tax, to get more money. It moves around 10-20 cents a week already, I personally would hardly notice it and would welcome it. Because we’d get still more of, less driving and more fuel efficient vehicles.

Raise gas taxes. How do automobile registration fees fit into the equation? I’d pay more there as well.

I emailed PBOT encouraging them to focus their funds on active transportation and make their cuts to projects which are automobile-centric.

Raise parking rates downtown. Problem solved.

1.) Congestion pricing in the downtown
2.) Metered parking on the East side commercial corridors
3.) Increase the gas tax to levels that reflect the actual price of the product – at least a dollar/gallon hike.
4.) Hike the cost of speeding tickets and distracted driving citations.

PBOT needs to have a source of funding that is not dependent on cars and fuel usage (especially when more electric cars come online). As people shift their transportation from cars to bicycles and mass transit more and more funding will have to come from general funds, there really isn’t any choice. Taxing bicycles directly has been shown to cost more than it raises, ditto with licenses for cyclists or registering bicycles. So that leaves property taxes, sales taxes (not sure if you have sales tax in OR), income taxes (we don’t have income taxes in TX), taxes that don’t depend on consumption to raise money (with the exception of the sales tax).

Personally if there was a way to tax bicycles that would not cost more to collect than it brought in or exceed the value of the bicycle per year I would be in favor of that, but unless the tax could be collected through an already funded channel we are back to costing more than it collects.

make automobile drivers pay the actual expense of operating a vehicle! So, add more fees for registration and more on the gas tax. motorized vehicles have been subsidized for years in so many ways. for one, there is a cost to public health thats never added into the equation. I do drive a vehicle part time and I still feel that drivers dont pay their fair share even though a good portion of drivers think they are paying too much.

Are you frickin’ crazy? Who wants more taxes. Let’s just spend the money more wisely.

The City definitely gets the most bang for the buck on active transportation improvements. I would support a property tax bond of some sort to pay for citywide sidewalk infill and bike infrastructure.

Of course, despite dwindling funds, ODOT still finds the funds for boondoggles like the costly, risky CRC. They’ve spent $70 million of ODOT funds on it already (and about another million dollars every month). Just to put this money in perspective.

It’s time the City of Portland tells the OTC and ODOT (and the legislature and governor) stop pouring money into the fantasy highway project that won’t get built, and to spend its money on cost-effective ways to improve safety, mobility, and transportation options.

It should be said, during any discussion of general fund shortfalls at the City, that the hundreds of millions of dollars diverted to urban renewal is a huge part of why existing revenues are insufficient. Urban renewal projects are always presented as if they cost no one anything –even by members of the City Council who should know better.

Has there been a recent mass migration of Oregonian commenters to Bike Portland?