The City of Bend continued deliberations around a controversial fee that could charge residents a monthly fee for street operations and maintenance. The Bend City Council offered two listening sessions at the end of February, where the public had an opoortunity to share comments and feedback.
The Council will discuss feedback at a March 6 work session and is planning to vote on implementing the fee at its March 20 meeting. The fee is expected to start appearing on utility bills after July 1.
The City proposed the transportation fee in September, stating how it would help to support, operate and maintain Bend’s transportation system. The transportation fee was listed as a recommended funding tool when the City updated its transportation system plan in 2020.
The fee would go toward maintaining roads, sidewalks and bike lanes, while also improving and expanding street services such as snow plowing and street sweeping. The City estimated the fee would cost about $15 a month for a single-family home and about $11 a month for a unit in a multi-family complex.
The City’s recent listening sessions offered residents a chance to review and provide comment on the draft code and fee schedule. According to Ben Hemson, the City of Bend economic development manager, the feedback suggested that people want a phased-in approach, allowing businesses to improve and clarify the fee structure.
Phase 1 of the fee structure, ranging from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, would charge a monthly fee of $5.60 for single-unit residential households and a minimum of $6.25 for non-residential property, depending on square footage. A 5,000-square-foot non-residential property, for example, would be charged $31.25 per month in phase 1. The City has not yet published the amounts businesses would pay in later phases.
The fee is proposed to be phased in over three years, according to the transportation fee draft code and fee schedule, to allow for additional data collection, and lessen the financial impact to community members in the short-term. Several people complained about this fee adding onto the several other increases in fees and costs in Bend.
While some praised the phasing-in fee schedule, several small business owners shared their frustrations about this fee hurting their businesses.
One resident mentioned how the City is calculating the fee amount and recommended the City take into consideration the number of people in a house, the number of vehicles per household, the types of vehicles and the impact that those factors have on the transportation system.
Some residents complained about the unsustainability of the current transportation system and how the wider streets will result in higher costs for transportation. Others complained about the lack of information and oversight on exactly how and where the money will be spent.
Other common arguments against the new fee note the City’s other funding tools that support transportation. A video played during the beginning of the listening sessions explained one reason: costs are increasing and the funding the City has relied on is no longer keeping up with the need.
“The gas tax revenue used to fund transportation maintenance is predicted to flatten or drop in coming years,” said Councilor Mike Riley. The transportation fee, according to Riley, would complement the GO Bond, passed in 2020, which only funds new projects, not maintenance.
This article appears in Source Weekly March 7, 2024.
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The City Council took the path of least resistance in choosing a path to fund this transportation tax. They choose the one path where they actually are not required to put it to a vote from the community.
It appears they spent little time trying to be creative and finding other ways where this tax could be shared. When I asked what options they have considered they said they were investigating and thinking about it but had no concrete ideas or paths as of yet. This was in December or January at a community forum at Summit High School hosted by the SWNA.
Buyer beware, this tax will only be placed on Bend city proper residents and businesses. Therefore, people residing in Bend but living on Deschutes County properties such as Tetherow, Highlands, Tree Farm, Westgate and new properties along Shevlin will not incur this tax and this is only the westside of Bend. These folks are using our transportation system so why are they not required to share in the tax? I will tell you because our city council lacks the wherewithal to come
up with creative solutions. Also tourists will not be sharing in this tax and they definitely impact our transportation system.
Again, the city council shows a complete lack of competence and performing for the greater good of our community.
Mayor and the entire City Council need to go. Vote them all out. Enough is enough with these people.
Why do a blanket citywide charge when many who don’t use the roads, nor chains that destroy the roads, will be expected to pay as well? I’m frustrated at how much money goes into constant street repair, vs alternative transportation methods, and yet now those of us taking the bus/walking/biking will be expected to pay the same amount as those with trucks commuting daily? I think this needs to be rethought, with those using the roads the most, and those households with the most vehicles, charged more if this proceeds.