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The homebuilding industry is supporting extension of a construction excise tax to pay for planning efforts throughout the region.

In past years, the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland criticized the Metro program because the bulk of the money went to planning for urban infill projects. However, the group is “generally satisfied” with assurances that tax revenues would be used, at least in part, for concept planning in urban reserve areas, said Dave Nielsen, CEO of the association.

“That’s why the (tax) was originally created and why we set it up seven or eight years ago,” he said. “Cities needed to plan urban reserves. They are basically unfunded mandates.”

A 22-person advisory group consisting of industry leaders, consultants, city staffers and county staffers unanimously OK’d an extension of the program, which was set to expire Sept. 30. The Metro Council will vote on the proposed extension Thursday.

The group had been meeting since January to review the program, said John Williams, deputy director of Metro’s planning and development department. If councilors agree to extend the tax, which is likely, future considerations would still need to be made determining what types of projects would receive the funding, he said.

“A lot of the tax money has been coming from cities of Portland, Beaverton and Hillsboro,” he said. “Many stakeholders felt that we should use the money to continue development in those areas, but there also was recognition that there should be a little bit of each. That is why it got wholehearted support.”

The tax applies to projects valued at more than $100,000 with an assessment of 0.12 percent on improvements. For a project valued at $250,000, the tax would be $300. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, tax collections totaled $2.3 million – the most since 2008, according to Metro.

The money could be used for a variety of purposes, such as pro forma studies of different building types and work on brownfield sites, Williams said. In other scenarios, dollars would be used for master-planning greenfield sites with streets, sewer infrastructure and parks. If the Metro Council passes the extension, more work will be done in the fall to determine which types of projects would be eligible for funding.

“Some places are more development financed, or (receiving) work to actually understand what a market might build in place and the bottom line for the site,” Williams said. “In other places, the money would be used for a much more general kind of planning that needs to happen.”