Portland's run-down streets are in far worse shape than the city's aging sewer and water pipes.
Why?
Commissioner Steve Novick -- in charge of the Portland Bureau of Transportation, and a champion for a controversial street fee -- is blunt.
"We're used to it. We're used to raising water and sewer fees every year, and we're used to letting the transportation system rot," Novick told the City Council during a sparsely attended work session last week. "And that's understandable. Inertia is a powerful force. ...
"But in this case, if we keep on doing what we're used to doing, the city will die. Because a city cannot function without a working transportation system, anymore than it can survive without a working water and sewer system."
The numbers back up Novick's point.
Portland has about $34 billion in assets, with the Bureau of Environmental Services ($13.2 billion), the Transportation Bureau ($9.7 billion) and the Water Bureau ($8 billion) making up nearly all of the pie.
When the City Council needs to replace water and sewer pipes, officials simply raise ratepayers' bills. Like clockwork, bills jump every year.
But for transportation? The City Council doesn't have a bill to increase, relying instead largely on gas taxes (which recently increased) and parking receipts (which officials could raise, although meter rates have been set at $1.60 an hour since 2009).
Different revenue streams, different results.
Nearly half of the city's transportation assets are in poor or very poor condition, with streets particularly crummy.
But only about one-sixth of the city's sewer and stormwater system is that bad. For water, it's less than one-tenth of the system.
And, as Novick pointed out, no one has suggested that water and sewer bills should be referred to voters -- although a public vote was demanded during last year's ill-fated street fee effort led by Novick and Mayor Charlie Hales.
(In fairness, however, rising utility rates are certainly controversial enough to be part of mayoral campaigns, lawsuits and reform efforts.)
To emphasize the difference, Novick noted that the average monthly water and sewer bill is set to increase $4.58 beginning in July. Since 2009, the average family's bill will have gone up by about $27 a month.
Just connecting to the water system -- called a base charge, which customers have to pay even if they never turn on the tap -- will be $11.91 a month.
And that, Novick pointed out, is essentially equal to the fury-inducing monthly transportation charge he and Hales proposed last year.
*
Reading:
Willamette Week: Spending Time -- County Commissioner Loretta Smith uses her office budget to benefit constituents -- and her own ambitions
Willamette Week: Pay to Playground -- City Commissioner Amanda Fritz proposes overhauling fees on developers to fund parks
The Oregonian: Oregon would set guidelines for use of police body cameras, under proposed bill
-- Brad Schmidt
503-294-7628
@cityhallwatch