Help for Clackamas Roads Will Be on November Ballot

Help for Clackamas County's 1,400 miles of roads - more than half of which are rated in fair to poor condition - will be on the ballot in November.

The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday filed the paperwork necessary to place a measure eon the ballot asking voters to approve or disapprove a six cents per gallon gas tax.

The tax would disappear after seven years.

Sixty percent of the revenue would go to the county and forty percent to the incorporated cities in the county.

The decision on the split came after weeks of negotiations among county officials and representatives of the cities.

The county says the tax is necessary because they are prohibited from using property tax revenue to fix the roads and road funding revenue has remained nearly static for more than 20 years.

There is a $265 million gap between the amount of road maintenance needed and available funds, the county says.

More information about road maintenance is available at www.TheRoadAhead.us. For more information on commissioners’ actions this morning, see the materials available on the county’s policy session webpage.