A Road That Runs Both Ways
By Scott R. Cooper, Crook County Judge
published in the Central Oregonian, June 2003
http://www.centraloregonian.com
A certain road has been on my mind a lot about lately.
Avid readers of newspaper might have noticed a lot of back and forth lately about a project to construct the Millican/West Butte Road connecting Prineville to highway 20 east of Bend. Deschutes County Commissioners are claiming that their annual budget can’t be stretched to accommodate their share of the project, even if Crook County finances the payment at zero percent interest. Besides, argues at least one commissioner, it’s a road in the middle of nowhere that serves only Crook County, so why build it?
There are several good reasons.
First, let’s tackle the obvious. Crook County’s position is simple. Half the road lies in Crook County and half lies in Deschutes County. The bill ought to be split evenly. The road will remove some traffic from downtown Redmond and Bend (does anyone argue that congestion in Redmond and Bend is severe enough to warrant relief?) and will serve the east part of the county whenever its residents want to head for Portland or other parts north.
Deschutes County’s position is equally simple. The road will cost each county $2 million. Deschutes County’s budget is $175 million annually. (By comparison, Crook County’s annual budget is about $40 million.) Deschutes County thinks that’s an insufficient amount of money to provide a base level of service, and it isn’t willing to spend any of its dollars for new roads it doesn’t believe will benefit its residents.
Crook County doesn’t argue that there’s a major benefit of this project to Crook County. Various businesses in Crook County, but chiefly Les Schwab, have made it clear they need enhanced transportation routes headed east if they are to continue to operate in Crook County. With a 12 percent unemployment rate, the last thing any of us want to do is give any more businesses a reason to leave. Secondly, the road, by bringing more through-traffic to Prineville, might just lead to a few more business start ups. Lastly, it’s simply a convenience to local citizens because it eliminates the need to backtrack through Bend when headed east or south on highway 20..
Still, that’s not quite enough evidence for me to give up and pay the whole price tag for the road. Unlike Deschutes County’s commissioners, I don’t buy the argument that the road has no value to Deschutes County. First, let’s remember that as much as the Chamber of Commerce may hate the fact, Prineville puts a substantial amount of retail dollars into the pockets of Bend and Redmond businesses. By one reckoning, 70 percent of Crook County’s disposable income leaves the county to be expended elsewhere. That’s $14 million annually, and that’s a lot of revenue, which translates to a lot of taxes for Deschutes County. Like it or not, Crook and Deschutes are joined at the hip economically and what hurts us hurts them; likewise, what helps us, helps them. If commissioners think they lack money to provide services now, try sitting back and letting a large chunk of Bend’s business base simply disappear!
A second consideration why the road should be built now is that Crook County and Deschutes County actually have new money for roads coming into their treasuries for the first time in 10 years. Thanks to forest payments legislation pushed along by Sen. Wyden, Crook County is receiving approximately $2.4 million per year in federal funds for road purposes through 2006. Deschutes County is receiving about $3.3 million per year. If we’re ever going to build this road, which has been contemplated for at least 12 years, now is the logical time. The money both counties are receiving is money for projects, not banking. Both counties are hoping federal legislation authorizing these monies will be reauthorized when the current program expires, but in order to do that, we know we have to show results. Given the federal efforts that went into getting this right of way, this is a great demonstration project for the D.C. crowd.
A third consideration is basic fairness. Deschutes County gladly collects taxes from individuals in the east part of the county so that it can invest those taxes in improvements for the voter-rich western half along situated along highway 97. While that’s good politics, it’s not policy. This project presents some means to rectify the balance.
The Millican/West Butte connection makes sense—from a regional perspective, from a county perspective, from a business perspective, from a transportation perspective, from a political perspective. The only perspective that’s lacking is that of two of three Deschutes County Commissioners. Unfortunately, theirs is the critical one.
I still have hope that Crook County and Deschutes County can strike a deal. We have one more meeting to discuss this project, and there have been some indications our counterparts while not willing to meet us half way, might be willing go part of the distance.
I hope so. Regional considerations are growing more important, not less so. We are regional partners in everything from social services to economic development to transportation. But regional isn’t just a word we trot out when Deschutes County doesn’t have enough money to complete a project on its own. The road runs both ways, and whether we’re at the table in the future has a lot to do with what our neighbor decides today.
published in the Central Oregonian, June 2003
http://www.centraloregonian.com
A certain road has been on my mind a lot about lately.
Avid readers of newspaper might have noticed a lot of back and forth lately about a project to construct the Millican/West Butte Road connecting Prineville to highway 20 east of Bend. Deschutes County Commissioners are claiming that their annual budget can’t be stretched to accommodate their share of the project, even if Crook County finances the payment at zero percent interest. Besides, argues at least one commissioner, it’s a road in the middle of nowhere that serves only Crook County, so why build it?
There are several good reasons.
First, let’s tackle the obvious. Crook County’s position is simple. Half the road lies in Crook County and half lies in Deschutes County. The bill ought to be split evenly. The road will remove some traffic from downtown Redmond and Bend (does anyone argue that congestion in Redmond and Bend is severe enough to warrant relief?) and will serve the east part of the county whenever its residents want to head for Portland or other parts north.
Deschutes County’s position is equally simple. The road will cost each county $2 million. Deschutes County’s budget is $175 million annually. (By comparison, Crook County’s annual budget is about $40 million.) Deschutes County thinks that’s an insufficient amount of money to provide a base level of service, and it isn’t willing to spend any of its dollars for new roads it doesn’t believe will benefit its residents.
Crook County doesn’t argue that there’s a major benefit of this project to Crook County. Various businesses in Crook County, but chiefly Les Schwab, have made it clear they need enhanced transportation routes headed east if they are to continue to operate in Crook County. With a 12 percent unemployment rate, the last thing any of us want to do is give any more businesses a reason to leave. Secondly, the road, by bringing more through-traffic to Prineville, might just lead to a few more business start ups. Lastly, it’s simply a convenience to local citizens because it eliminates the need to backtrack through Bend when headed east or south on highway 20..
Still, that’s not quite enough evidence for me to give up and pay the whole price tag for the road. Unlike Deschutes County’s commissioners, I don’t buy the argument that the road has no value to Deschutes County. First, let’s remember that as much as the Chamber of Commerce may hate the fact, Prineville puts a substantial amount of retail dollars into the pockets of Bend and Redmond businesses. By one reckoning, 70 percent of Crook County’s disposable income leaves the county to be expended elsewhere. That’s $14 million annually, and that’s a lot of revenue, which translates to a lot of taxes for Deschutes County. Like it or not, Crook and Deschutes are joined at the hip economically and what hurts us hurts them; likewise, what helps us, helps them. If commissioners think they lack money to provide services now, try sitting back and letting a large chunk of Bend’s business base simply disappear!
A second consideration why the road should be built now is that Crook County and Deschutes County actually have new money for roads coming into their treasuries for the first time in 10 years. Thanks to forest payments legislation pushed along by Sen. Wyden, Crook County is receiving approximately $2.4 million per year in federal funds for road purposes through 2006. Deschutes County is receiving about $3.3 million per year. If we’re ever going to build this road, which has been contemplated for at least 12 years, now is the logical time. The money both counties are receiving is money for projects, not banking. Both counties are hoping federal legislation authorizing these monies will be reauthorized when the current program expires, but in order to do that, we know we have to show results. Given the federal efforts that went into getting this right of way, this is a great demonstration project for the D.C. crowd.
A third consideration is basic fairness. Deschutes County gladly collects taxes from individuals in the east part of the county so that it can invest those taxes in improvements for the voter-rich western half along situated along highway 97. While that’s good politics, it’s not policy. This project presents some means to rectify the balance.
The Millican/West Butte connection makes sense—from a regional perspective, from a county perspective, from a business perspective, from a transportation perspective, from a political perspective. The only perspective that’s lacking is that of two of three Deschutes County Commissioners. Unfortunately, theirs is the critical one.
I still have hope that Crook County and Deschutes County can strike a deal. We have one more meeting to discuss this project, and there have been some indications our counterparts while not willing to meet us half way, might be willing go part of the distance.
I hope so. Regional considerations are growing more important, not less so. We are regional partners in everything from social services to economic development to transportation. But regional isn’t just a word we trot out when Deschutes County doesn’t have enough money to complete a project on its own. The road runs both ways, and whether we’re at the table in the future has a lot to do with what our neighbor decides today.
posted by Scott Cooper | 1:47 PM
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