[Hi everyone! I’m still in a hospital in southern Oregon with my dad, but I started looking into this story a few days ago and just started typing. I’m not back and working normal hours quite yet; but I hope to be back to Portland by Tuesday night! – Jonathan]
Two budget amendments proposed by Metro Councilor Gerritt Rosenthal last week would more firmly ensconce Portland’s regional planning agency as a key player in transportation funding talks that will be a top priority for state lawmakers during the 2025 legislative session.
Rosenthal, who represents Metro District 3 (portions of Washington and Clackamas counties and the cities of Beaverton, Durham, King City, Sherwood, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville) wants Metro to fund two new staff positions and related consulting costs to study what a regional vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax and tolling plan would look like. Those topics have traditionally been the realm of the Oregon Department of Transportation and state lawmakers, but Rosenthal believes since Metro represents the part of Oregon with the most congestion and largest megaprojects, his agency should play a larger role. He also doesn’t trust ODOT, members of the Oregon Transportation Commission (that oversees ODOT), or state lawmakers to uphold Metro’s values.
At Thursday’s Metro Council meeting, Rosenthal and other councilors put forward a total of seven budget amendments. Rosenthal proposed two of them: a “Vehicle Mile Tax Scenario Assessment” and a “Regional Values Tolling Prototype“. Each of the proposals would require Metro to fund one full-time staffer and cover costs for consultants and studies from the general fund. The VMTax proposal would fund one FTE and $25,000 for consulting-related costs, the tolling proposal would fund one FTE and $200,000 for “consultant support.”
“Who is asking us to do this? It just feels like there’s a disconnect.”
– Juan Carlos González, Metro councilor
“Logic is asking us to do this, because we’re the only entity that can.”
– Gerritt Rosenthal, Metro councilor
Electeds, experts, and advocates have been pushing for a VMT-based fax for many years. U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer introduced legislation for a VMT pilot program in 2012 as a way for the federal government to fill a deficit in the Highway Trust Fund. ODOT has spent over two decades trying to launch some type of VMT charge, but even with the official launch of their “OreGo” program in 2015, it is still voluntary and has not gained traction (there were less than 900 participants as of last summer). And the Portland Bureau of Transportation included a “road usage charge” as one of the recommendations in their Pricing Options for Equitable Mobility (POEM) plan adopted by City Council in 2021.
From a policy perspective, VMT taxes and tolling are widely considered reasonable ways to pay for transportation infrastructure amid dwindling gas tax receipts and shrinking budgets; but they are often politically toxic because most Americans don’t realize they vastly underpay for their use of streets, parking spaces, and other transportation infrastructure. And most people dislike having to pay for something they’ve received for years at a highly discounted rate due to government subsidies.
So it didn’t take long after Rosenthal’s amendments were posted publicly early last week for a predictable backlash to begin. PDX Real, an outlet that specializes in ginning up rage at progressive policies and whose founder, Angela Todd, spread a false conspiracy about former Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, shared a video Friday that’s been viewed nearly 50,000 times. In the video, Todd made it appear as though the VMT tax was a done deal. “Without our push, Metro will approve a full-time position for a consultant to come up with a plan for the VMT,” she warned. “Together we can cancel the vehicle mileage tracking plans dead in its tracks.”
As expected, outrage ensued in the hundreds of comments below the video. And Glenda Scherer, a small business owner from Gladstone, testified during the public comment period to make sure Rosenthal, Council President Lynn Peterson, and other council members heard that “No means no,” when it comes to tolling. And since the VMTax would require a transponder to track vehicle mileage, Scherer said, “This is government overreach and has a big brother, 1984 feel to it. We don’t want to be tracked.”
Even if passed, neither amendment would actually create a VMT tax or tolling program. Rosenthal says the idea is to just flesh out a proposal—from Metro’s point-of-view—for what each could look like in the region.
“We’re the only region in the state that was proposed for tolling,” Rosenthal explained at Thursday’s meeting, referring to ODOT’s tolling plans which were shelved last month by Governor Tina Kotek after widespread backlash, “And tolling effects all of our freeways, not just the interstates—we have congestion on all of them and we have to deal with this.” Rosenthal also says since the Portland region has the most expensive and complicated infrastructure projects and is the economic driver for the state, he feels “We have special needs and special concerns.”
Based on his comments at the meeting, Rosenthal doesn’t trust ODOT to develop a VMT or tolling system on their own that will match Metro’s values. He’s worried ODOT and state lawmakers will run roughshod over Metro’s adopted goals around transportation, climate, and land-use planning and that ODOT’s “main concern is to generate revenue for ODOT.” To be taken seriously in Salem, Rosenthal believes Metro must be more proactive and build up the research, marketing, and staffing capacity it takes to implement controversial—yet necessary—programs.
“It’s desirable to get ahead of the process,” Rosenthal said to his colleagues on Metro Council. “If we wait [for] the legislature… the die will be cast. And we will be playing catch up.” From Rosenthal’s perspective, Metro needs to be better-equipped to lead conversations about these policies, rather than react to whatever happens at the State Capitol. He wants Metro’s values to be, “on the table before the debate gets started.” “[These proposals] at least set the stage for future discussions.”
But Rosenthal clearly wants to do more than start a conversation or do a few studies. He’s already considered that Metro has a database of licenses and addresses that would make a tolling proposal, “technologically quite easy to do.” His VMTax idea, however, would be a bit more complicated. “A vehicle mile tax system involves creation of a whole new dataset that does not exist. And that could be both complicated both from a technical standpoint, as well as a political standpoint.”
When it comes to politics, Rosenthal’s idea has already run into a speed bump. District 4 Councilor Juan Carlos González expressed concerns with the proposals not from a policy standpoint, but from one of process. González spoke of the robust public engagement process Metro went through for the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and was clearly uncomfortable making the proposals a priority given all the other projects and policies the public has said they want Metro to focus on. “Who is asking us to do this? It just feels like there’s a disconnect.”
“Logic is asking us to do this, because we’re the only entity that can,” Rosenthal replied. “We’re the regional transportation planning entity in this area, so logic would dictate that this is a regional question that has to be asked by Metro and answered by Metro.”
González spoke diplomatically, but was clearly not supportive of how the amendments were proposed. “What I’m not seeing is the level of partnership required and buy-in from our jurisdictional partners. It kind of feels like putting the cart before the horse.”
But Rosenthal feels the time is now to “set the stage” because once state lawmakers set out their policy ideas and the wheels of legislative action spin into motion, “It would take twice as much—maybe five times as much effort—to change that direction.”
District 2 Councilor Christine Lewis was much more direct. “I just want to be really clear and on the record that I can’t support bringing resources to tolling at this time. Our region does not want tolling and there is no appetite in my district for us to put local resources towards this.” Lewis said going forward with a Metro-led plan not in consultation with ODOT, “Does not feel like the right direction or the mission of our agency.”
For fans of the ideas who’d love to see Metro shape (and possibly even administer) a future VMT tax and tolling plan, don’t pop the champagne just yet. And for foes, rest assured Rosenthal’s proposals are not likely to go anywhere. Sources say Rosenthal’s amendments aren’t likely to have more than one vote (his own).
Even Rosenthal is pessimistic about his proposals. “I’m not going to pretend that they are not controversial… I realize this is probably not going to be accepted.”
Metro’s budget committee will vote on amendments May 2nd. Budget work sessions will be held in June and the final budget will be up for adoption June 13th.
UPDATE, 4/30 at 8:50 am: Councilor Rosenthal withdrew both of amendments this morning. I’ve asked him for a comment and will share if I hear anything back.