ODOT Budget

[u/NoLanguage404]

https://katu.com/news/investigations/where-does-odots-63-billion-budget-go-department-transportation-oregon-politics-money-roads-highways-kotek-drazan-election-traffic-local-community-money

Will they ever fix it or is it just an ongoing crisis?

[u/Such_Variation_2127]

The 🤡🤡 show continues.

[u/OK_Human]

“Administrative services, policy analysis, and debt service account for about 20% of the budget. The Interstate Bridge Replacement Program makes up 7%”

that’s a lotta wheel spinning

[u/EnthusiasmOk353 → u/OK_Human]

Yeah this is a joke. Debt service and some level of admin is okay. Analysts should be heavily cut. Admin in general too. 

[u/pdxcuttybandit]

they are doing some really stupid projects right now. who the fuck wants whatever is happening in cully?

[u/Good-Rest-7538 → u/pdxcuttybandit]

They literally built a ADA sidewalk ramp to nowhere on an onramp to 224. There is no sidewalk on the side of the road they built it and put a sign up on the other side saying crosswalk closed. Literally no one can use it let alone someone in a wheelchair. 

[u/Pinot911 → u/pdxcuttybandit]

that overpass was so rotten

[u/pdxcuttybandit → u/Pinot911]

not just that although i do miss it as i used it daily to get from the 205 bridge to NE on my bike commute. im talking about what theyre doing to the small dirt side streets in cully.

[u/Slut_for_Bacon]

I don't know much about ODOT but my experience with ODF tells me there is terrible unit level financial mismanagement and little over-site.

Our six Type 6 engines were constantly on the verge of breaking down and we somehow couldn't find the budget to replace bald tires even though we are expected to drive off-road regularly. (real offroad, not dirt roads that off-roaders pretend is off-road)

No money for training, or fuels reduction, or to send us off district for training opportunities. We had to fix broken down toilets, washers, and clogged showers in our living quarters by hand.

Instead of training he would have us do all the landscaping and mowing at the unit office so he didn't have to pay someone to do it. Who needs to train how to use a chainsaw when you can mow a lawn?

We also had the privilege of cleaning management vehicles for them every time they got back to station, and sometimes their personal vehicles if we were lucky.

Yet our 5 senior management employees who barely even participated in fire and barely left the office had the budget to each get brand new off-road capable trucks every single year, replacing the new trucks from the year before. They got to add lots of fancy bells and whistles to their trucks like winches and ATVs and other cool gadgets that probably never got used. Senior management also gets paid very, very well for relatively little actual work compared to the firefighters.

Basically my unit forester realized that if he could cut the budget to the fire program as much as possible, he could give senior management nice cushy budgets for themselves and still make it look like the unit was being fiscally responsible because he was spending less overall.

My unit was kind of a joke within the district because we never trained or drilled. My Unit Forester was not respected or liked by other Unit Foresters because of this.

Of course my Unit Forester got promoted to District Forester over all of the other Unit Foresters because overall, he saved the unit money, which is all the State cares about.

TL;DR

Bad supervisors are financially incentivized to cut costs to actual firefighting equipment, and will eventually get promoted to even better paying supervisory roles.

[u/unnamed_elder_entity]

Fix it? How do you fill a hole the size of the entire universe? They'll spend any amount you dump in and claim to need more.

[u/StuffAffectionate687]

If Tina hangs on they’ll fix it by throwing more money at it. Where will the money come from? New regressive taxes and fees on anything/everything they can think of. After passing all these new taxes that disproportionately impact the working poor they’ll tap themselves on the back for how “progressive” they are.

Vote Drazen, even if you have to hold your nose to do it.

[u/Pinot911 → u/StuffAffectionate687]

What's Drazen's solution to the same problem?

[u/StuffAffectionate687 → u/Pinot911]

Don't know, don't really care, she can't do worse than decades of one party rule. Lock her ass in a room with the Democrats in the Legislature and make them fucking figure it out. Whatever the outcome is will be better than Measure 120.

[u/BeanTutorials → u/Pinot911]

cut services (maintenance and snowplows) and blame it on the democrats

[u/Last-Obligation6216 → u/StuffAffectionate687]

Any thoughts on the information presented in the article?

[u/StuffAffectionate687 → u/Last-Obligation6216]

The loss of gas tax revenue as cars become more efficient is a legitimate problem. For all my cheeky "vote Drazen" comments, I'd actually have reluctantly swallowed the increase in the gas tax. It was the hikes to other things in M120 that made it odious to me. I remember being broke in my 20s and having to ride dirty because I couldn't afford my registration renewal. Those sorts of things should be set at cost, not used to raise revenue for other line items in ODOT's budget.

The other thing I wish we'd do is figure out a way to put a tax on the kilowatt hours used to charge electric vehicles. That'd be the equivalent of the gas tax for them. It'd be easy to assess at public chargers. The home charger situation is more complex, since those are usually commingled with the rest of the household's electricity usage, but most of them are smart/internet connected and report usage totals to the mothership. Presumably you could find a way to tax them.

[u/Ok_Difficulty_7650]

Yes ODOT is spending money on programs they shouldn't be, but a significant amount of them come from unfunded mandates from state or federal lawmakers. Gas and other material properties have increased quite a bit. The crews and construction contractors have to pay it just like us. Anti icer has doubled since last year. Project bids are skyrocketing. Can they be better, yeah, but at least be realistic about why it is SO bad. Income dropped and expenses increased. They probably need to downsize but even that will cost a fortune after going through all the contractual process for represented employees while destroying moral again. My $0.02, raise gas tax 6 cents, hybrid and electric pay per mile, reduce workforce through attrition and lower customer service expectations. Let your representatives know their pet projects aren't how you want your money spent.

[u/Special_Beyond1326]

DONALD TRUMPS FAULT