Community Road Fund: Investing in Safety and Relieving Congestion

This $30 fee is paid by Clackamas County residents when they register their car, truck, van, trailer* or other passenger vehicle or motorcycle.

The fee is collected by the state Driver and Motor Vehicle (DMV) Services Division, in conjunction with state registration fees.

* In April 2022, the Board of Commissioners approved lowering the county vehicle registration fee on utility and travel trailers from $30 per year to $5 per year. The lower fee is expected to go into effect by January 2023, after the county and state (which collects the fees) make necessary changes in the collection system.

In accordance with state law 2017 ORS 801.041, the fee does not apply to a number of types of vehicles owned by Clackamas County residents including the following:

• Registered farm vehicles
• Travel trailers, campers and motor homes
• Heavy trucks (which pay state weight-mile taxes)
• Snowmobiles and Class I all-terrain vehicles
• Fixed-load vehicles
• Vehicles registered permanently to disabled veterans or former prisoners of war
• Vehicles registered permanently as antique vehicles or as vehicles of special interest
• Government-owned or operated vehicles including school buses or school activity vehicles, and law enforcement undercover vehicles

Total revenue will be approximately $11 million per year.  

Estimated Annual Revenue by Jurisdiction

*Based on population, per state law
**Part of this city is outside Clackamas County
***Per state law, funds that would have gone to the former city go to the county for 10 years

• Local road maintenance ($1 million/year)
  Resurfacing urban and rural local roads – the county-owned roads that people generally use to get from their residence to a major road – has not been priority due to the low volume of traffic on these roads. With an extra $1 million a year, we’ll be able to pave 2-3 miles of urban local roads or 3-4 miles of rural local roads.
• Congestion relief ($3.5–4 million/year)
  Helping traffic to flow more smoothly and reliably will benefit everyone. High priority projects were identified several years ago through an extensive public process and have been in our Transportation System Plan (TSP) ever since.  With a high reliance on grants from other agencies with other priorities, the VRF will provide funding for urban and rural projects that align with our local priorities.
• Safety improvements ($500,000/year)
  Many safety projects can be implemented at a relatively low cost (road shoulders and warning signs) to make roads safer for all travelers in both urban and rural areas.
  There are many ways to improve safety on roads, including those listed below.  The list also includes a very general estimated cost for the project (this can vary considerably depending on geography and other factors), crash reduction as a result of comparable projects and examples where such improvements have been made in Clackamas County.

Safety Improvement Examples

* reduction in run-off-road crashes with injuries

** reduction in injury crashes

*** for angle but increase of 58% in rear-end crashes (calibrated for Oregon)

• Safety improvements will be identified and prioritized by our Traffic Safety Commission; a group of county residents that meets monthly to promote traffic safety countywide and helps develop, review and recommend policies, programs and projects that address traffic safety. 
• A local road maintenance schedule is being developed by our Transportation Maintenance experts based on a data-driven pavement management system.
• Congestion relief projects will be identified and prioritized with the assistance of a new public advisory committee made up of residents from throughout the county. They will work from the list of 38 projects that are already identified as top priority in our Transportation System Plan.

The Oregon Constitution requires vehicle registration fee revenue to only be used for road projects, so diverting this money for other purposes is not an option.

ORS 368.705 forbids counties from using property tax revenue for roads or transportation projects.  Only revenue from fuel tax, vehicle registration fees, weight-mile taxes (paid by heavy trucks) and similar fees may be used to fund road projects.

Safety and paving projects began in 2020. Most congestion relief projects have started planning and design with some projects slated to being construction this summer.

Each city will decide with its residents how best to use the money. For more information, please contact your city.

While revenue provided through state legislation passed in 2017 (House Bill 2017) provides support for several important transportation programs — including resurfacing major roads, ADA curb ramp upgrades for people with disabilities and safety projects — it is not enough to meet the larger needs of resurfacing local roads and building capital projects.

We held many public meetings, and gave numerous public presentations and every time, we were transparent about the additional funding from HB 2017, the additional source of this revenue, and the positive impact that the additional funds will have on the county. 

We also specifically indicated that HB 2017 dollars will go towards targeted road needs including paving arterials and collectors; building safety improvements; and constructing curb ramp retrofits to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  

The HB 2017 funding is not sufficient to meet other needs such as paving local roads or building congestion projects from our Transportation System Plan, which make up most of what the County will use the countywide VRF on.  In addition, VRF revenue will provide more revenue for safety projects — this is similar to HB 2017, but we can do even more to save lives on our roads.

We have provided a detailed description of where those funds will be directed both in the years leading up to, and after, we are fully funded in FY 2026/27: 

• Arterial/Collector Paving
  Increase from $3 million to $8.5 million
• ADA Improvements
  Increase from $180,000 to $700,000
• Safety Improvements
  Increase from $260,000 to $1.76 million

In the months leading up to approval of the VRF ordinance, public engagement included:

• Articles in #ClackCo Quarterly mailed to all county residences four times a year
• Articles in local media
• More than 20 social media posts
• Presentations to community and business groups that were widely publicized to CPOs and other local organizations
• Five Board policy sessions
• An ongoing website
• Articles in three issues of the county monthly e-newsletter sent to 12,000 people
• Lengthy discussions at meetings of the Clackamas County Coordinating Committee (C4), followed by deliberations at city council meetings throughout the county

Contact Ellen Rogalin at ellenrog@clackamas.us to let us know if you would like to:

• be added to an “interested parties” email list to learn more about the VRF, including meetings of advisory groups
• attend meetings of the Traffic Safety Commission
• attend meetings of the advisory committee on capital projects
• talk with someone to get more information
• suggest a specific transportation project on a county road that you think is needed

We look forward to hearing from you!