The Canby City Council held a public hearing December 5, 2007 to consider the adoption of increased local funding for street maintenance. Following this, the Council has approved the creation of a local Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax and a Street Maintenance Fee by ordinance. The fees will take effect July 1.

Most of Canby’s current road maintenance funding comes from the State of Oregon. However, the state gas tax has not been raised in 13 years. After considering increased construction costs, Canby receives less money for street maintenance than it did 13 years ago, while there are many more miles of streets to take care of. Almost 70% of Canby’s streets need maintenance right now, and this number will greatly increase if no additional funding is found.

The Canby City Council asked a group of citizens and business people to review this situation and make recommendations. The group considered a range of scenarios from “Do Nothing” to “Fix Every Street Now,” but ended up recommending a middle ground solution that raises an additional $450,000 per year to be spent entirely on construction contracts. This level of funding will not fix every street, but it will stop the overall condition decline and will prevent many streets from deteriorating further.

Funds would be generated through a 3 cent per gallon local gas tax and a street maintenance fee to be added to utility bills. This approach balances the costs between different users. Canby’s street maintenance fee would be similar to that in many other cities around Oregon, and would be based on traffic generation. Single family homes would pay a flat $5.00 per month while most businesses would pay between $5.00 and $50.00 per month.

The City has hired independent consultants to create a 20-year maintenance plan to ensure funds get maximum results. Funds would be dedicated entirely to road maintenance and a citizen oversight committee would oversee the whole program.

The public hearing was preceded by an extensive public outreach effort designed to provide information on the need for local funding and the proposed solutions. The staff report posted below contains more information on the outreach effort and the funding proposals.