Why Sisters needs a local gas tax

As many of you may have heard, your city council is considering a small gasoline tax of three cents per gallon. We are not considering this lightly and have concluded, reluctantly, that this is the best course for Sisters. Allow me to explain.

First, the Sisters street fund has never had a dedicated revenue source like the water and sewer funds, i.e. monthly payments from our citizens for those municipal services. Consequently, each year the council has appropriated $80,000 to $100,000 from the general fund to pay for street maintenance.

Recent assessments of future street maintenance requirements show an average annual future maintenance need of approximately $140,000 per year. Given where we see the economy going, it would not be prudent to continue to tap the general fund alone for our street maintenance needs.

Second, the state legislature in the session that just ended passed a law that, if it's not referred to the voters and defeated, would prohibit any city in the state from enacting a local gas tax until 2014. Currently, cities have this authority and some have used it to supplement the state gas tax, which has dwindled in its buying power over time.

Third, Sisters' public works department recently completed a comprehensive analysis of all of Sisters' 42 miles of streets. The analysis rated each of our streets as to their current condition and projected maintenance work that will be required to keep them in good condition for the life cycle of a street, which is 75 years. Without the appropriate maintenance over time, streets may only last 20 to 25 years before having to be totally re-built, at significant expense.

In my view, the council's responsibility is not to "kick the maintenance can" down the street and leave the problem to some future council. We must address the situation now. We are all painfully aware of the deferred maintenance that many public entities foist upon their constituents, only to have their constituents face major repair costs later when the situation has deteriorated to the point of an emergency. This is not the way to manage Sisters' assets.

Finally, the proposed gas tax will result in people who do not live here - or reside outside our city limits - purchasing gas to contribute to our street maintenance needs. Given that these folks use city streets, this strikes me as fair and equitable.

The city council has already met and discussed the situation with the owners of service stations here in Sisters. They are not thrilled with the prospect, nor are we. We have scheduled a public meeting on Tuesday, July 28 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Sisters City Hall. We will present the street assessment methodology, present maintenance schedules and costs, and be prepared to answer your questions. I hope you will attend!

One last point: there may well be petitions circulated to refer the gas tax question to a local vote. I hope that you will resist signing such a petition. And no, I am not advocating that our citizens should not have a say in this important matter! The reality is that the state law mentioned above will prohibit a vote on this issue for four years. In fact, given the just-passed legislative mandate, a relatively small group of petition signers will decide the issue for us!

I wish it were not so, since I respect the good sense of Sisters voters....but it is.