A bill in the Oregon Senate Finance and Revenue Committee would allow Metro to create a regional parks district, which could then fund maintenance and improvements at the region's natural areas.
Senate Bill 752 would help solve what Metro staff says is a growing problem – hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent to buy natural areas around the region, but resources are tight to maintain them. And in many cases, improvements are years away.
The bill wouldn't create a tax. Instead, it would allow Metro to, at some point, ask the region's voters whether they want a new tax. That could be in the form of a permanent property tax, or it could come from continued operating levies presented to voters every five years.
Metro officials say they wouldn't keep all of the money for Metro-owned natural areas, which include Chehalem Ridge near Gaston, Graham Oaks near Wilsonville and Cooper Mountain in Aloha.
"If we get this power, and generate a revenue source, probably a significant amount of it would be shared with other (parks) providers," said Councilor Carl Hosticka.
Regional trails and Forest Park, in particular, have been pointed out as prime candidates for funding. Metro Natural Areas manager Jim Desmond pointed to a recent City Club of Portland report that said the long term viability of about half of Forest Park was in danger.
"Fifty years ago, people thought natural areas took care of themselves. It's Mother Nature. You leave it alone. It'll be fine," Desmond said. "We've learned that isn't true. All these places have threats, and they need to be proactively addressed."
Voters overwhelmingly approved bond measures to buy natural areas in 1995 and 2006, and Metro has spent about $97 million of the $227 million authorized by voters in 2006. The property tax hike authorized by voters in that election expires in 2026.
But, Desmond said, bond money can only be used for capital investment. "You can buy properties, and in limited cases you can do restoration. But ordinary maintenance, you can't do."
So Metro has been funding the restoration and public access of its natural areas through general fund revenue, a pot which shrinks every year. Even if revenues were stable, Metro's spending growth is limited to the Consumer Price Index. The Metro Council has been increasing the budget for the natural resources program, and it could issue a levy.
"But this would give us the opportunity, if we chose to go in this direction, to have a permanent base," Desmond said.
Most Portland-region residents live in some sort of parks district, whether it's a city department like Portland Parks and Recreation, or a special district like the Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District and the North Clackamas Parks and Recreation District. Residents pay property taxes to support their neighborhood parks.
So why should someone who lives in Beaverton want to create what is, essentially, another parks district?
"We will actually be writing a check to Tualatin Hills so they can take care of their portion of the Fanno Creek Trail," Desmond said as an example. "Right now, they're the most stable funded entity in the region, but even they are challenged on the natural area end of things. If you have a swimming pool with a leak, or a community center's roof has gone bad… those things are going to take priority over eliminating ivy, which everybody thinks you can get to later.
"But back to the Forest Park example," Desmond said, "that 'later' is 10 to 20 years and your problem then costs you 10 times as much if you had been proactive in the interim."
Hosticka pointed out that many people use parks facilities outside of their tax district.
"People don't know where they live and what jurisdiction controls what parks," said the southwestern part of the region's representative to the Metro Council. "It's a regional issue. So, like many of the regional issues, if we can, we would like to come up with a regional solution."
If the bill passes, it would be up to the Metro Council to decide if and when voters would be asked to approve a funding system to pay for a regional natural areas district.