The Tillamook County Public Works Department funding is separate from the general county fund. The Public Works Department funding is broken up into two budgets; one for the Solid Waste Department and one for the Road Department.
The Road Department does not receive any revenue from property taxes.
In the past, the Federal Forest Revenue money has been a large portion of the Road Department budget. Beginning July 1, 2008, a significant portion of that money is no longer available to counties. In order to make up for this drastic loss in the Road Department budget, the Tillamook County Commissioners placed a permanent tax rate measure on the May 2008 ballot. However, the measure did not pass at approximately 2 no votes to 1 yes vote. Because there is no money to replace the loss of Federal Forest Revenue money that has been cut, the Road Department will be cutting 10 positions leaving only 18 employees starting October 1, 2008. Along with cut positions, the Road Department (with the help of the County Road Advisory Committee and the Tillamook Board of County Commissioners) will be deciding on which services it can no longer continue to provide due to a lack of funding. On October 3, 2008 Federal Forest Revenue money was sanctioned for a 4-year period at reduced levels every year. We rehired 2 laid-off employees and will be hiring 5 additional personnel for a total of 25 employees. Safety is the Road Department's number one priority in all decisions.
The Road Department receives a percentage of the vehicle registration fees for all vehicles registered within Tillamook County. It also receives a portion of the taxes that are collected from gasoline sales. As the economy slows and people travel less, the Road Department budget suffers from the lack of sales which in turn hurts the department's ability to maintain the roads.
This funding is through the agreement between the Oregon Department of Transportation and the Association of Oregon Counties. Each county is allotted a certain amount of money to which it can apply to use for qualifying projects. In the past, the Road Department has used this money to fund paving projects.
The Road Department receives a small portion of county traffic ticket fees that are paid through the Tillamook County Justice Court.
Tillamook County is hit nearly every year with one or more major storms. These storms can include one or more of the following: flooding, hurricane force winds, snow, landslides, and road washouts. Some of the storm damage is so severe, that it qualifies for Federal Highway and FEMA reimbursement monies.
Although grants do not make up a large portion of the Road Department budget, it is able to fund a small portion some of its programs through various available grants. One of the grants that the Road Department is currently investigating is the NACE Grant for road signage.
The Road Department partners with other agencies. Some of the agencies are: Oregon Department Of Transportation, Bureau of Land Management, Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon Department Fisheries & Wildlife (culverts for fish passage), Tillamook Estuary Partnership, and other Tillamook County Departments (Community Development, Surveyor's Office, Assessment and Taxation, Clerk's Office).
Tuesday, June 23, 2009 03:41 PM