City Council Directs Staff to Move Forward With Finding Street Funding Solution 

With statements like, “I don’t want to spend any more money on studies, let’s do something,” and, “It’s obvious we have to do something for our roads,” City Council directed staff at the July 18th meeting to put together a street funding strategy by the end of this year to help maintain Milwaukie’s roads. 

Now the task before City staff is to put together a Street Funding Program that gains approval among residents and business interests alike. No small feat, to be sure, but during the City’s initial outreach there was strong consensus that Milwaukie’s roads are in poor shape and are getting worse, and that Milwaukians would have to pitch in to fund a solution. Staff will look at four different mechanisms to raise funding: a 1.5% tax levied through PGE bills, a gas tax, a street utility fee, and shifting the burden of paying for the City’s streetlights out of the street maintenance budget. 

Much outreach will be conducted while putting together the funding program. Please read future editions of The Pilot for further information.