Down The Sewer Pipe – Politically Speaking

There will be times when a fee or a method of raising money needed for a project or a fund will not be possible, because of the limits on what vehicle can be used to generate the needed funds.

It is a bit hard to plead poverty when thirty two million dollars are distributed from the general fund to other town or city agencies.  This is the case in Portland Oregon and coupled with the fact that the city needs forty four million dollars to repair roads make the case for raising additional monies ludicrous.  What happened is that the city decided, via the elected officials, to place a fee, in reality a tax, on each and every city utility bill.  Water and sewer departments do not repair roads but following the dictum of  “That Which Is Not Denied Is Permitted” the city council decided to do just that.  Oregon, you see, does not have a statewide law that prohibits such a practice. 

What this accomplishers, and I do not recommend it is a funding source creation without voter or even citizen participation. A far better method would be to come up with local street bonds in dimensions of 1,5 25, 50, 100, 1000 dollars that when sold the purchase price goes into an interest barring account.  The interest is then split between the bondholder, the city project (in this case roads), and the fund itself.  This would have the benefit of paying back the bondholder with interest, funding the project and adding revenue to the fund sans purchase of the bonds.

Not a bad idea, though it is not thought of by politicians who spend their lives running Down the Serer Pipe.

Sherman