The Portland City Council has approved a new transportation utility fee, which will appear as a $12 monthly charge on utility bills for typical single-family homes, and $8.40 per unit for most multifamily households, starting in January 2027.
This will put upward pressure on rents, but landlords cannot automatically pass the charge through to renters. Cost pressures continue to mount for Portland’s landlords with its soft rental market, increasing maintenance expenses, rising insurance costs and a rent-control law in place in Oregon.
The new utility fee is meant to prop up the city’s ailing transportation agency and bankroll basic road maintenance. Having previously discussed the ordinance at length in committee meetings involving the full council, the ordinance was voted through without debate on a 9-3 vote.
Residents enrolled in the city’s existing low-income discount program for water and sewer will automatically pay a discounted fee, but a previously adopted amendment ensures that the option is extended to residents in multi-family housing who do not currently receive their own bills.
No less than 75% of net revenue from the fee must go toward maintaining or preserving the city’s existing transportation infrastructure.
Under the final version of the ordinance, the remaining 25% of funds are split equally between projects forwarding the Vision Zero initiative to halt traffic deaths, and toward sidewalk improvement projects.
Council members almost universally expressed their reservations about passing further expenses onto Portland residents, while also acknowledging the dire state of the city’s streets and the insufficient funding for maintenance.
“It’s tough because affordability is tricky for everyone right now,” Portlander Tom McGuire told KTVU. “Obviously roads and transportation are really important, but we definitely want to make sure that for families here in the city, that we keep it affordable and keep it reasonable.”
