Novick and Hales.jpg

Portland Commissioner Steve Novick, right, and Portland Mayor Charlie Hales, earlier this year, at Portland City Hall.

(Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian)

Paul Romain, the lobbyist representing Oregon petroleum users, said it came as no surprise Friday to learn that Portland transportation officials filed separate ordinances with the city clerk outlining their $46 million plan to tax residents and business owners.

That means if the Portland City Council approves the newest proposal from Commissioner Steve Novick and Mayor Charlie Hales to raise millions of dollars for street maintenance and safety projects, Romain's clients and their supporters will have to collect twice as many signatures to refer the street fund to voters.

Romain said that's no matter. "We'll go after both," Romain said Friday.

Portlanders will have their first opportunity to comment on the proposal, a progressive income tax for residents and separate fee for businesses, Thursday afternoon at 2. A formal vote on the $46 million plan is set for Dec. 3.

Opponents would need 41,794 valid signatures to refer both of the ordinances to voters in the next election should the City Council approve the plan, according to the city auditor's office. Novick and Hales have said they don't plan to refer the package to voters.

Novick said his bureau filed two ordinances for the business fee and income taxes because they're "two quite different things." He first spoke to Willamette Week on Friday about the rationale for splitting the proposals.

Earlier this week, Portland Business Alliance CEO Sandra McDonough said the chamber of commerce couldn't support a residential income tax. On Friday, she told Willamette Week that the group's opposition had intensified, and that PBA would join the fight to refer the issue to voters. McDonough didn't immediately return a phone call for this story.

Novick said splitting the two proposals makes it clear where opponents are lining up. He said the PBA's opposition to a progressive income tax places the group on the wrong side of the majority of Portland voters.

Lobbyist Paul Romain outside a hearing room in the Capitol building in Salem in 2007.

The first-term commissioner cited the overwhelming success of Measure 66, the 2010 income tax on Oregon's wealthy, as evidence that voters would support a progressive income tax in Portland. He said the proposed street income tax doesn't go as far as the state measure.

Romain said Novick and Hales had done "a wonderful job" of unifying the business and residential communities against their plan. "They've been bumbling with what to do with it, how to raise it," he said. Romain said while PBOT handles its finances relatively well, the City Council still avoids having "a legitimate discussion" about the overall city budget and spending priorities.

Earlier this year, Novick cited an outpouring of emails and phone calls from small-business owners expressing concern about the street fee as one reason they put the plan on ice in early June.

"That's not happening this time," Novick said, adding that he's received a fraction of the phone calls and emails.

"Most of the calls that we're getting related to the proposal are from self-identified rich people," Novick said, who are upset that the tax could cost up to $900 a year.

— Andrew Theen