Bend squeezes $1.8 million from budget for roads
Bend city councilors found ways to squeeze an additional $1.8 million out of the budget for road maintenance.
“It is because I voted no on the budget that forced my colleagues to go and find this money,” City Councilor Victor Chudoswky said Friday. “We’ve pretty much almost fully funded street maintenance until 2017.”
Maintenance might not be enough to get Bend’s roads up to spec.
“It doesn’t improve the roads,” said Bend City Manager Eric King.
Officials estimate the city needs $80 million to bring the roads up to a good standard. That would be $6.5 million a year.
Currently, the city is spending less than half that, and the $1.8 million (which would be $600,000 a year) won’t bridge the gap.
“Revenue options do need to be considered, if the desire is to improve roads, not just maintain the status quo,” King said.
Some city councilors are suggesting asking the voters for a 5- or 10-cent a gallon gas tax. But Chudowsky is against that move at this point.
“There is no rush now,” Chudowsky said. “We have the funding for two years. If we’re going to go out to voters, we have two years to do that now. Why not use those two years, or the next year or whatever, to come up with something better?”
Part of the $1.8 million came from the city’s reserve funds.
“The problem with the $1.8 million is it’s not sustainable,” said fellow City Councilor Barb Campbell. “Those were one-time funds. We’re bringing down our reserves. So we won’t have as much in case of an emergency.”
Meanwhile, Bend’s roads got a grade of D, or 69 points, in a recent survey. Redmond’s roads scored 80.
“As I mentioned, 69 is not good,” King said, “and it really does require more resources than we have programmed — and even more resources that we can redirect.”
City councilors meet on Wednesday night to receive the results of a Bend 2030 transportation survey and to discuss the road funding issue and possible gas tax again. They have until Aug. 8 to decide if they want to include the measure on the November ballot.
