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Mayor stumps for gasoline tax Grants Pass's Anderson concerned over bad streets SALEM -- Grants Pass Mayor Gordon Anderson came here Thursday to lead the first organized effort to persuade the Legislature to approve higher gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees for road repairs and construction. House Bill 2082, which proposes increases of 6 cents per gallon and $10 in the two-year registration fee, is likely to come up for a vote in the House next week. "If we do not take decisive action of the magnitude that is contained in the bill, the existing transportation system will continue to deteriorate," said Anderson, president of the Oregon Mayors Association. "It would sentence the state's residents to a future of decaying roads and severely affect our ability to maintain existing industries or recruit new ones." Anderson and other mayors came to the Capitol to make their case for the tax increase, which will require 36 votes to pass the 60-member House. Though Medford's bottlenecks at the north and south freeway interchanges are considered the most congested in Southern Oregon, Anderson said Grants Pass and areas just outside the city also will require extensive road improvements in the next 20 years. "We have $131 million worth of highway improvements and maintenance facing us," he said. "We get about $1 million a year now, so we are only $111 million short of meeting our needs." Among the long-range improvements Anderson identified are greater capacity for the T-intersection at Grants Pass Parkway and E and F streets, which lead downtown, and a reworking of streets in the Redwood Highway area near the Josephine County Fairgrounds and Rogue Community College. Anderson and others spoke out as lobbyists for the trucking industry geared up their opposition to the bill. They are dissatisfied because a House committee rejected a proposed repeal of the weight-mile tax, which is based on the weight and mileage of trucks operating within the state, and its replacement with higher registration fees and a diesel tax of 25 cents per gallon. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA