Pedestrian walks in east Portland on Powell Boulevard

A pedestrian walks in east Portland on Powell Boulevard, where there are few shoulders, sidewalks and safe crossings for blocks at a time.

(Andrew Theen/The Oregonian)

When Portland transportation officials sought help developing a street fee proposal last January, they turned to a familiar face: Gary Corbin.

Corbin, a consultant with Oregon City-based Innovative Growth Solutions, worked for the city of Portland for a dozen years before leaving in 2005.

As the street funding saga hits its next chapter, a proposed advisory vote in May that may include as many as six funding proposals for voters to choose from, Corbin and Innovative Growth Solutions (IGS) are poised to cash another check.

The City Council will decide Wednesday whether to authorize another $35,000 for IGS for its role in shaping the street fee. The contract amendment comes in the wake of another nearly $100,000 awarded to the consulting firm for street fee financial services during the past year.

The street funding debate is a bit like Groundhog Day for the 55-year-old Corbin.

Since 2001, he said he's been involved in every attempt to create a new revenue stream for road maintenance or safety projects — each one unsuccessful.

Corbin, who is also a playwright and said he holds a Ph.D. in political science and minor in economics from Indiana University, said each attempt to pass a street fee seems to hit another political roadblock. "It's a tough political issue, and it's only getting more difficult," Corbin said Tuesday. "The state of the roads is getting worse, and every time we get at it, it seems like the financial need is greater."

According to multiple contracts, Corbin crunched numbers, analyzed potential revenue streams and developed databases for the transportation bureau.

Eric Fruits, an economist and outspoken critic of the street fee, said he's not certain Corbin's prior experience is a benefit for the city. "I could've done it and done a better job," he said of the economic analysis. "I think Robert McCullough could have done it and done a better job. My old colleagues at EcoNorthwest could've done it and done a better job," he added, "and all for less money."

Dylan Rivera, Portland Bureau of Transportation spokesman, said IGS and Corbin fill an important niche. "He knows this data, he knows its limits and he been able to help us figure out at an aggregate level how much money different alternatives raise."

In 2001, Corbin contributed technical work on then transportation commissioner Charlie Hales' short-lived attempt at creating a street fee. In 2003, while still with the city, he said then Commissioner Jim Francesconi briefly took up the issue and asked for analysis.

In 2007, two year after he'd left the city, Mayor Sam Adams hired Corbin's firm to work on a street fee funding plan.

During each iteration of the plan, the cost to residents increased, according to Corbin.

Year of work

Last January, as Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick prepared to hold months of town hall meetings and events to ask residents how to best raise millions for street maintenance and safety projects, IGS was already working with the city.

In late January, PBOT signed a $49,875 contract with Corbin's fire to "perform analytical tasks related to improving its revenue base." Corbin's hourly rate was set at $175.

Hales and Novick wouldn't release the first incarnation of the street fee proposal until late May, but according to the January contract, PBOT already had a number of options "including a street maintenance and safety fee" in mind.

"From our past experience with similar projects, IGS staff possess unique qualifications to assist PBOT in constructing, modeling and analyzing a street fee," the contract reads.

The original contract had a strict timeline, too, including an end date of June 7.

Why June 7? The City Council was expected to vote on the street fee proposal that same week, but Novick and Hales pulled the proposal on the eve of a public vote in the face of criticism.

Back to the table

As Novick and Hales created a series of work groups to analyze how to improve the $53 million plan, Corbin's role wasn't finished.

In August, IGS signed a new $50,000 contract to offer revenue and expenditure analysis, help develop revenue mechanisms and model potential alternative options.

Corbin billed the same $175 per hour fee, and is listed as the lead analyst, receiving $42,500 of the contract, with IGS principal Shirlene Warnock also listed on the contract. Rivera said Corbin served as the primary contact.

During the summer of street fee work group meetings, where business and nonprofit leaders worked to tweak the controversial proposal, Corbin was there alongside PBOT staff.

He collaborated with PBOT's financial team on the revenue options, but Corbin said he primarily handled the non-residential portion of the plan.

In the intervening months, the plan evolved to include a progressive income tax on residents, then once again changed in late December to a proposed $44 million option that included a flat fee on residents charged according to their estimated gasoline consumption based on income. The business fee also changed during that period.

McCullough, the head of Southeast Uplift neighborhood coalition and an energy analyst, criticized the city's business fee as being riddled with errors. McCullough published a report and spreadsheet that he handed out at the City Council public hearing last week. Corbin said McCullough's critique is "his opinion," and said the neighborhood leader doesn't understand how the calculation actually works.

He said while there are some inaccuracies in the business license data which the fee structure is based, those errors won't affect the actual revenue projections. "In spite of what he said, there's not thousands and thousands of errors," Corbin said. He plans to spend some time cleaning up data in the coming months, and didn't feel like it was worth the city's time to clean up data that "would possibly never be used."

Most recent amendment

The $35,000 amendment waiting for City Council approval applies to the additional work headed Corbin, and PBOT's way. The contract runs through June. Hales plans to send options to voters in May for an advisory vote.

According to council documents, the additional $35,000 may not be the final change. "Additional scope changes or time extension could require future amendments," documents show.

Corbin, who lives in Washington but still owns property in Oregon, said he's looking forward to what he hopes is a successfully implemented street funding plan.

Roads are getting worse, he's noticed, as have the political controversies of creating a new fee.

"You could only imagine how bad it could get," he said of the controversy, "Or how bad the roads could get. I sure hope that people could come together on both sides."

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@cityhallwatch

