The Bend City Council is advancing plans to implement a monthly transportation fee.
The new fee would address a funding gap for transportation necessities like road restoration, snow removal, and accessibility. In recent years, revenue streams like the state gas tax and local property taxes haven’t been enough to meet the city’s transportation needs.
The council hopes to phase the fee in over three years, with rates based on residents’ housing type. In the first year, a single-unit home could expect to pay about six dollars per month.
According to Sarah Hutson, the project manager for the policy, Bend tried to pass a transportation fee several years ago.
“One thing that we try to stress to folks is that the longer that we wait, the more costly repairs will be, so there is an importance in acting swiftly and trying to have this funding available to us as soon as possible,” Hutson said.
If approved, the fee would start showing up on utility bills in July.
