Featured Seeks more drivers for mileage tax test

Source: State seeks more drivers for mileage tax test - Capital Bureau - East Oregonian

By Hillary Borrud Capital Bureau Published on October 4, 2015 8:04PM

SALEM — A state pilot program launched in July to charge Oregon drivers based on the amount they drive has roughly 900 participants, mostly in the Portland metropolitan area.

Officials had hoped to enroll up to 5,000 people in the pay-by-the-mile program, the first of its kind in the nation. Participants sign up with one of three private vendors, then install an electronic device that enables the company to track mileage and collect fees.

“I think we all need to get more (participants) in because the more we have, the better the data,” said Vicki Berger, chair of a task force overseeing the effort. Oregon Department of Transportation employees told the task force this week they are working on strategies to sign up more people.
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The department has been searching since 2001 for other options to charge people for using Oregon’s roads and highways, and lawmakers authorized the pilot project in a 2013 law. It was originally supposed to cost $2.8 million, according to a budget report for the legislation that authorized the program, Senate Bill 810. The budget has since increased to $8.1 million through the end of this year and the state could spend a total of $12.7 million by mid-2017, although Godfrey said ODOT expects the project to come in under that budget. The state could incur additional costs in the future because the pilot will continue indefinitely until lawmakers decide whether to make it mandatory.

One problem with a pay-by-the-mile road fee is that it is more expensive to administer than the gas tax. ODOT officials suggested during the task force meeting that one way to address this might be to use the mileage fee to replace not only the gas tax but also license, vehicle registration and other fees, which carry higher administrative costs. State Rep. John Davis, R-Wilsonville, said he appreciated the suggestion because otherwise, he would be skeptical of the road user fee given the high administrative costs.

Critics of the pilot have said it benefits drivers of low-mpg vehicles that produce more pollution and penalizes drivers of more fuel-efficient vehicles, and lawmakers including state Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, have raised concerns about the cost and other aspects of the program. In July, the Willamette Week newspaper reported that legislators questioned ODOT officials’ decisions to send Jim Whitty, manager of the agency’s Office of Innovative Partnerships and Alternative Funding, on more than 100 trips over the last decade including to Washington, D.C., Brussels, London, Barcelona, Singapore and Australia. The state paid $65,000 of Whitty’s travel costs, with the remainder picked up by conference sponsors who were not identified in the newspaper article.
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Meanwhile, Oregon will once again send a representative to Australia to meet with government officials who are working to create a similar program. This time, it will be Berger, the task force chair and a former Republican state representative from Salem.

“It’s torture, you know,” Berger said jokingly during the task force meeting.

Godfrey said the state will not pay for Berger’s trip, but it was unclear who will.

“Funds are being assembled by a number of private organizations that are sending her, and the state is not contributing anything to it,” Godfrey said. “I don’t know if she’s going in an official capacity.”​

Apparently the administrator of this failing program is leaving to set them up in other states, California is mentioned. But this prototype program has proved a bust except for the administrator who has become a world traveler on it. Nice job, lots of travel selling a program that costs more than it takes in.

Bob Wilson

 

Tag fees are 'the right to public roads.' Jack up the tag rate and the problem is solved.

Bob Wilson