State says it will boost ODOT’s budget for winter services
By Joe Hathaway on Tuesday, December 5th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
SALEM — Governor Tina Kotek and top lawmakers on Monday said they would give $19 million to the Oregon Department of Transportation for new snow plows and winter road-safety improvements.
The funding aims to prevent the transportation department from running out of cash before the end of the 2023-2025 biennium and delay sweeping service and maintenance cuts.
This comes after legislators, led by Sen. Elizabeth Steiner, wrote a letter asking for funding to help ODOT maintain its normal services this winter. Read Elkhorn Media Group’s previous article here.
Gov. Kotek, Senate President Rob Wagner and House Speaker Dan Rayfield said in a statement that they will allocate the money to the state transportation department in the 2024 short legislative session.
Lawmakers said the department will use the funds as follows:
- $8 million for winter maintenance such as purchasing de-icer and salt, and for removing overtime restrictions for workers
- $4.5 million to patch pavement and fix potholes each spring to mitigate the impact of winter freezes on roads
- $2.5 million to retrace edge lines on less-traveled highways
- $4 million to replace 10 snow plow trucks
ODOT still faces a budget shortfall, which the agency says is mainly due to slower-than-anticipated growth in gas tax revenue and rising costs.
It has already considered raising DMV fees to plug the deficit, projected at $680 million by 2029. Earlier this fall, the agency anticipated that it would have to slash basic maintenance services, such as plowing snow during storms.
In a Nov. 30 letter to Kotek, the Legislature said it would work toward modernizing the state’s transportation system during the next regular session in 2025.
