Local services could be in jeopardy if lawmakers don't act
ODOT Maintenance Service map, which shows the network of roads and Maintenance facilities in the state. Staff are already spread thin and are covering vast areas. A reduction in staffing would be "critical," ODOT officials said.
Oregon lawmakers must find a way to increase revenue to fund ODOT. The state has raised taxes on consumers of gas and diesel over the years, making Oregon one of the most highly taxed states for petroleum products in the country.
ODOT's expenditure limit of $6 billion is primarily funded by the Oregon Gas Tax. But with declining revenue from the gas tax and rising expenditures for materials, ODOT is facing a $345M shortfall.
District 9 includes much of Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam and Wheeler counties. District 12 includes Umatilla, Morrow, and some of Grant and Wheeler County. Without the necessary funding, ODOT says that seasonal winter staff will be cut and there will be lapses in plowing state highways.
Electric vehicles and hybrids have reduced the revenue generated for ODOT, while rising inflation on construction materials has climbed exponentially.
The Oregon Highway Fund is law and stipulates that ODOT must dedicate fifty-percent of the fund to counties and cities, which oversee more miles of road that ODOT.
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) hopes that state legislators will approve its budget request in the upcoming 2025 legislative session. If they refuse, ODOT is prepared to cut more than 1,000 jobs, including several positions that oversee roads in Gilliam, Wheeler, and Sherman counties.
The Oregon Transportation Commission reluctantly approved ODOT's budget request for 2025-2027 in August, but a battle with the Oregon Legislature is brewing. Ongoing concerns about rising costs and a lack of revenue from the Oregon Gas Tax, the agency's primary funder, has created an unmanageable situation, ODOT officials said.
More fuel-efficient vehicles and the emergence of electric cars have depleted the Oregon Gas Tax fund, while inflation has catapulted expenses for construction materials.
ODOT is looking at a $354 million shortfall for the 2025-2027 biennium. Locally, that could mean fewer staff available to plow roads in winter months. It could also strain the Oregon State Highway Fund, which directs almost half its funding to cities and counties for maintenance services. The fund distributes money to counties and towns in a 50/30/20 model, with fifty percent going to ODOT, thirty percent to counties, and twenty percent to cities.
While the Transportation Commission, lawmakers, and Governor Kotek have voiced their support for funding the agency – there are also concerns that the state lacks the funding to satisfy ODOT's requests.
As a result, ODOT is preparing for a 30% reduction in staffing in 2026 and a 20% reduction in staffing and materials in 2027. This reduction would restrict regular employees and seasonal hires, limit spending on materials such as road signs and paint, and prolong maintenance and repairs on Oregon highways.
District 12 Manager Rich Lani, based out of the Pendleton ODOT office, said a staffing reduction would become critical in his district, which includes a large portion of Morrow, Umatilla, Grant, and Wheeler counties.
"The Heppner unit has one manager, who does Heppner and Spray – with five full-time employees and one seasonal worker in the winter," he said.
Lani says that the area already operates with a minimum number of employees, covering a vast territory that spans from the Morrow County OHV Park to Spray and Monument. Reducing this by 30% would mean that coverage during winter months would lapse.
"In winter, we operate on a 24/7 schedule," said Lani. "Six staff is the bare minimum," he says, and a reduction in staff would result in gaps in plowing and maintaining roads.
Priority would be given to morning commuters and school buses, Lani says, but there would be periods without plowing, predominantly in the wee hours of the morning.
A labor reduction would also heavily impact District 9, which includes Gilliam, Sherman, Wasco, and parts of Wheeler County.
A crew of five currently works the Condon Transportation Maintenance area, which spans from Cottonwood and Olex to Clarno. Winter weather can be highly hazardous on these roads.
In the upcoming legislative session, lawmakers will be forced to find new ways to fund Oregon's roads and address the shortfalls from Oregon's Gas Tax.
Oregon was an early pioneer of taxing gas to pay for roads. In 1919, it was the first state in the nation to impose a per-gallon tax on gasoline.
According to the American Petroleum Institute, Oregon's gas tax for 2024 is $0.40 per gallon, and the federal tax brings that up to $55.17 per gallon. This puts Oregon at the eighth highest for taxes on gasoline and the tenth most taxed for diesel. In years past, the gas tax has provided enough funding for maintaining Oregon's roads and supporting new construction projects. This is no longer the case.
While a lack of revenue is one cause for concern, inflation is another. Between 2013 and 2017, construction inflation averaged just 5% higher than consumer inflation. But between 2021 and 2023, construction inflation was 14% higher than consumer inflation. ODOT projections indicate that this gap will continue to grow in the coming years, while revenue forecasts continue to plunge.
Like several other states, Oregon has continued to push rising transportatio costs onto consumers of gas and diesel, with the gas tax going from $0.10 a gallon in 1980 to $0.40 a gallon in 2024. Fuel efficiency for vehicles in 1980 was around 20 miles per gallon, which has jumped to nearly 35 miles per gallon in 2024.
While the federal government and automakers have heavily invested in electric vehicles (EVs), Oregon has only imposed small registration fees for EVs and has yet to tax them at public charging stations.
Twenty-four states have done so, charging higher vehicle registration fees for electric vehicles and some hybrids to offset lost gas tax revenue.
In Montana, a state tax of $0.03 per kilowatt hour is charged for electric vehicles at public charging stations.
Oregonians have been incentivized to purchase an electric vehicle, with $5,000 credited towards state taxes. Lawmakers did raise the registration fee, charging an additional $76 to $91 for EV cars. Oregon has no additional fees for hybrid vehicles.
So far, solutions have failed to meet the moment. Governor Kotek dedicated an additionial $19 million to ODOT, and the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) dedicated another $30 million. But Rich Lani in District 12 says that funding is essentially a bandaid and a solution is urgently needed.
"We're falling behind," Lani told The Times-Journal. "It's easier to maintain something than to build it," he said. "I use the analogy of buying a new car and never changing the oil or servicing it – you'll drive it into the ground and then have to buy another new car."
Reader Comments(0)