* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Henry
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
title
Funding from Oversize and Overweight Trucking Permits for Maintenance of City Streets
FOR the purpose of requesting that the Board of Estimates raise the fees for oversize and overweight truck permits in order to help fund current levels of street maintenance.
body
Recitals
The current difficulties in the worldwide economy have hurt many of Baltimore's traditional revenue sources and may require severe cutbacks in many City services. One area that the preliminary budget has proposed cuts in is street maintenance. Unless additional money is found for the Department of Transportation, current response times for potholes and repaving levels will not be maintained.
The Council believes that maintaining the City's current 48 hour response time for pothole repairs and its ability to resurface 200 lane miles of City streets annually is important to preventing the deterioration of Baltimore's infrastructure. In the past, the primary source of the City's transportation funding has been transfers of State Highway User Revenues. However, as the State struggles with its own budget difficulties, these transfers have been significantly reduced. If current revenue collection is inadequate to maintain the existing service level, the City simply must find ways to boost revenues.
Some street traffic is a greater drain on the Department of Transportation's resources than others. Oversize and overweight truck moves in particular put an extra strain on Baltimore's transportation infrastructure. Currently, the City recoups some of its costs through fees charged by the Department of General Services for permits required for these truck movements.
Not only does the added cost of the extraordinary use of City streets justify charging these fees, but many of these moves are conducted by outside companies who do not otherwise provide any revenue to support the maintenance of the City infrastructure of which they make use. In a time when all of the City's users and residents are being asked to pay more or accept fewer services, it is appropriate that these transporters be asked to shoulder their fair share of the additional financial burden required to maintain adequate levels of service. If the funds collected from these permits could be doubled from the current $1.1 million to $2.2 million, much of the $3.6 million shortfall in the street maintenance budget could be made up.
Permits are issued to companies for either single or multiple movements. One time permits are typically utilized more by out of town firms, and the fees for their issuance are the only contributions that these firms make to Baltimore's streets. Accordingly, the effort to increase permit revenue should focus on the single use permits. The current fee for this type of permit is $60 for up to 45 tons, and then another $5/ton for each additional ton. These fees should be raised to a base fee of $125, plus $10/ton for each ton more than 45 tons. Multi-transit permits are either "book permits", costing $300 for 10 permits, or "blanket permits" that cost $80 a month. These fees should be raised to a lesser extent - to $375 for "book permits" and $100 a month for "blanket permits".
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That, in order to fund Department of Transportation resurfacing and pothole repair services at existing levels, the Council requests that the Board of Estimates raise the fees charged for oversize and overweight trucks transiting the City to $375 for "book permits", $100 per month for blanket permits, and $125, plus $10 per ton over 45 tons, for one time permits.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, the Comptroller, the City Solicitor, the Director of Public Works, the Director of Finance, the Director of General Services, the Director of Transportation, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
dlr 10-2019~intro/12May10
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dlr 10-2019~intro/12May10
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