Commissioner Amanda Fritz Refuses to Support Portland Street Fee Plan

Monday, January 05, 2015

Kirsten Nicolaisen, GoLocalPDX Content Manager

Portland city commissioner Amanda Fritz

Portland city commissioner Amanda Fritz announced Monday that she does not support a proposed street funding plan which is based on assumed gas use and income.

Fritz said that while she agrees that additional revenue is needed to repair and improve the safety of Portland's streets, she cannot support the proposed plan that she believes would require people living in poverty to contribute, and would disproportionately burden middle class families.

“I have many friends and constituents for whom even $3 per month would mean skipping a meal, or being unable to buy a bus ticket to get to work,” she said. “Three dollars per month is $36 per year, more than the Arts Tax which is also regressive. We should learn from past experience, and we should not solve one problem by making another struggle worse.”

Fritz said that she believes the right approach to funding street repairs is a progressive income tax that city council should refer to the Nov. 2016 ballot.

Other critics of the Portland street fee have also claimed that the data used to calculate the fee is full of errors.