AOC, LOC brief WCCC on likely elements and timing of Oregon transportation package

Brian Worley of the Association of Oregon Counties and Jim McCauley of the League of Oregon Cities told the Washington County Coordinating Committee on Feb. 14 that the state Legislature is preparing a transportation package and that the joint committee on transportation expects to release a framework by Feb. 14 with a bill to follow in mid-April.

The presentation summarized recent work-group reports and the revenue tools being considered to address growing shortfalls in the state highway fund, including fuel-tax indexing, increased vehicle-registration tiers (especially for electric vehicles), vehicle sales or ownership taxes, road-usage (VMT) charges and a retail delivery fee. Worley said, “we had our last gas tax increase with HB 2017 that was passed in 2017,” and added that inflation and construction-cost increases have driven a large ODOT deficit.

Why it matters: county and city transportation budgets depend on the state highway fund and on local matches. A package that changes how transportation is funded will affect long-term maintenance, preservation and capacity projects across Washington County and other local…