PORTLAND, Oregon — Portland city leaders are once again asking residents to renew a ten-cent gas tax on the May ballot. It funds a program called ‘Fixing our Streets.’
Transportation Commissioner Mingus Mapps brought the proposal before city council on Wednesday, “If the ten-cent gas tax is not renewed, our challenges will be greater than ever. Portlanders will see a significant decline in the services that PBOT is able to offer,” said Mapps.
If passed, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) projects the tax will generate $70 million over the next four years, and will provide funding for road paving, street lighting, fixing potholes and upgrading bike lanes. It would also provide funding to improve roads and intersections in high crash corridors, including 122nd Avenue, which saw six traffic related fatalities in 2023.
“These are preventable deaths, and they disproportionally affect people walking, people without housing and people in East Portland,” said Sarah Iannarone, Executive Director of The Street Trust, “This is no time to be slashing PBOT budgets, or critical staff who are working to address emergency conditions and a public health epidemic of traffic violence.”
The tax passed with 53% of the vote in 2016 and with 77% of the vote in 2020. PBOT Director Millicent Williams says that even though costs have increased since this tax was last put on the ballot, it became apparent that voters were not interested in a hike in the tax.
“There was not the appetite for us to increase evenly according to inflation. We are looking at ways we can stretch the dollar as far as we can by leveraging ‘Fixing our Streets’ dollars against other investments,” said Williams.