halesfee.JPG

Mayor Charlie Hales speaks during a June 25 public hearing on a proposal to raise money for street maintenance and safety.

(Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian)

By Robert McCullough

On Friday, Dec. 12, Southeast Uplift agreed to pay $2,720 to see the calculations behind the Portland Street Fee. And, to add insult to injury, half down in advance in case the venerable community organization either flees the jurisdiction or closes its doors before Dec. 22.

This is bad public policy since it represents a defeat for transparency and public involvement. Southeast Uplift represents 20 Portland neighborhoods – roughly a quarter of the city. I first asked the questions about the street fee's seeming exemption of large road and fuel users on Oct. 21. With fierce determination, a lawsuit, and 35 years of litigation experience, we may see an answer on Dec. 22.

The fundamental question I first asked Fred Miller, the city's chief administrative officer, two months ago, and am still awaiting the answer to, is how can a tax that is focused on street repair exempt the largest road and fuel users? It does seem a bit like a bad practical joke – a tobacco tax that only applies to non-smokers or an alcohol tax that is only paid by teetotalers.

Economists (my day job) prefer "use" taxes as a general rule. There is a good argument that the best way to prevent global warming is to tax carbon users. This would normally mean an additional gasoline tax. It would not mean an additional tax to homeowners and small business who well might not even own a car or place wear on the roads.

Southeast Uplift was not invited to the street fee discussions and we have not yet proposed a formal position on how the tax should be structured, but we do have questions. I should be clearer. We have a lot of questions. Even clearer. We have a lot of unanswered questions.

The street fee development materials provide few answers. According to the document released on Aug. 21, Portland has no large transportation companies or agencies. FedEx, UPS, TriMet, UPRR, Burlington Northern, Port of Portland? Who owns the 106,000 heavy trucks registered in Multnomah County? Should we be issuing an amber alert?

Humor aside, the proposed tax may well be adopted without a public vote. It is complex, expensive to administer, and there has been almost no explanation where the numbers came from.

So, stay tuned. With luck, Southeast Uplift will report where the missing major road users went in the calculation of the Portland Street Fee. You may not be able to get that question answered at city hall, but your neighbors are working hard to bring you an explanation.

Robert McCullough, of Eastmoreland, is president of Southeast Uplift.