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Central Point mayor urges council to consider starting street, drain fees By BUFFY POLLOCK CENTRAL POINT - Faced with the potential loss of franchise fees and with street funds already stretched thin, Mayor Bill Walton will once again ask City Council to consider implementing street user and storm drain fees. Despite coming under heavy fire when he proposed the fees two years ago, Walton said he directed city staff to "just do the research for when the city needs it." Walton said the city already can barely complete necessary street work using revenue from franchise fees - fees collected from utilities for using public right of way - and the risk of losing them because of a suit filed recently by Qwest Communications posed a serious budget threat. Qwest, the area's dominant phone service carrier, has withheld franchise fee payments to 30 Oregon cities and is seeking a judgment from the U.S. District Court in Portland supporting that decision. The move came after Qwest won a court ruling in Washington state saying that federal law limits cities from collecting excessive fees when utilities use the public right of way, as when they put phone lines under streets. "And you can almost bet if Qwest wins, then all these other utilities will jump on the bandwagon," said Walton. Such an action could eliminate a half million dollars in funds for maintaining streets and storm drains in Central Point, he said. City Finance Director Bill Brugger said that while the city had not had any payments withheld yet - Qwest's annual payment is not due until March - the city wasn't spending any money it couldn't bank on. "We're not going into this thing with blinders on. We already have braced ourselves and reduced expenditures because we know there's a chance the money won't be there," Brugger said. For the current year, the city has budgeted $493,000 in revenue from franchise fees collected from Qwest, Pacific Power, Charter cable, Avista natural gas and Rogue Disposal. The franchise fee revenue is dedicated entirely to funding street maintenance. The other half for streets, about $535,000, comes from the motor vehicle or gas tax, but it can only be used for traffic-related street and sidewalk projects, and to match grants for such projects, explained Public Works Director Bob Pierce. "If we lost the franchise fees, we'd lose most of our streets (funding), all our storm, all the mowing, litter control, planter strips . . . there's a lot out there. If we lose those, we lose a lot," Pierce said. "Funding for repairs would be so limited we could hardly do anything at all." Which is why, said Walton, he wants the city to be prepared. "The job as a mayor is to look out for the city and have foresight to say let's just get the data so we'll have it ready for a public vote when the time comes," he said. "I've recommended $2 (a month) for storm and $3 for streets, but even that's not enough. When roads reach a state of disrepair, it costs four or five times as much to redo them than maintaining them would have." Other cities who collect monthly storm drain fees charge from $1.41 (Talent) to $3.25 (Medford). Street fees range from $1.96 (Talent) to $5.12 (Ashland). Another concern, said Walton, is an initiative petition that could appear on the March ballot. If passed, the measure would require a public vote on any fee increases or new fees. The measure would be retroactive to May, when the petition was filed. The measure would revert recent increases to building and planning department fees back to those implemented in 1982. "That petition and all those things they (petitioners) complain about paying are county taxes that the public voted for. By state statute, we have to have those departments be self-sufficient. And none of those fees affect the elderly unless they modify their home," Walton said. Though still just in the discussion phase, Brugger said, a monthly fee of $5 collected from Central Point's 5,400 residential units would provide $27,000 monthly for storm drains and streets. "We can barely pay for our streets with the franchise fees in place. If we lose them, we don't have anything. I think this is justified," said Walton. A study will be scheduled when research has been conducted by city staff. For more information, refer to the city Web site, www.ci.central-point.or.us, or call City Hall at 664-3321. Buffy Pollock is a free-lance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected]. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.