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The Portland City Council at a public hearing on Thursday evening asked attendees to share their preferred plan to raise money for street maintenance. But many people who spoke instead preferred to voice their complaints with the process.

The council sought input on a series of transportation funding options 鈥� including a gas tax, a progressive income tax and a local-option property tax levy 鈥� and implored citizens to contribute other ideas about how to raise about $40 million annually for safety improvements and paving maintenance.

鈥淲e have held 14 months of hearings 鈥� The time to act is now,鈥� Mayor Charlie Hales said. 鈥淣o one funding mechanism is the consensus choice. So we will ask voters to pick the solution that is most palatable from an array of options.鈥�

The city plans to place between three and six funding options on the May ballot for an 鈥渁dvisory vote鈥� from citizens in Multnomah County. Hales explained that the option that receives the most 鈥測es鈥� votes will 鈥渂e scheduled for adoption by the council.鈥�

But an advisory vote is nonbinding, meaning that regardless of which option voters choose, the council can adopt whichever funding mechanism it chooses. That didn’t sit well with the 27 citizens who signed up to testify at the hearing.

鈥淚 think this whole process has been a terrible shame, and the residents of Portland have been total disrespected in this 鈥� It’s really been a farce and this advisory vote is adding more onto that,鈥� Betty Salada said. 鈥淲e deserve to have our streets in repair and you had the money and you squandered it for years. Why do we have to come up with the money now?鈥�

Salada and many others said they don’t believe the citizens should have to pay for improvements and that the city should find ways to get the money it needs from the general fund.

鈥淲hen I look at your priorities, I don’t know how much of this new revenue will be used to fix our streets,鈥� Nishant Bhajaria said. 鈥淭he other issue I have is the reason why this cannot be sent for a vote keeps on changing. Now when you actually put something to a vote, it’s nonbinding 鈥� which means people could pretty much say what they want to and you could come back and do something different. I don’t understand how you can treat citizens that way.鈥�

Bhajaria was one of many citizen speakers who asked for accountability from the council and suggested that it look at using money from the general fund to pay street fees.

Ann Sanderson, a small business owner and head of a coalition calling itself Stop Portland Street Fee, expressed her displeasure with what she calls the council’s refusal to listen to what the citizens want.

鈥淚t’s no way to govern and it’s no way to lead,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t’s no way to treat the people, either. We’ve been in this since the very beginning with you. We’ve tried to have our say, we’ve tried to help you 鈥� and yet we’re still going back to ask in a survey, and a very expensive one at that.鈥�

Hales said at the hearing that the cost to conduct the advisory vote in the May special election will be between $100,000 and $300,000.

鈥淚’m going to suggest, for my part, that we want to see none of the above,鈥� Sanderson said. 鈥淏ecause, when it comes down to it, that is the one choice that would make sense for a lot of us. It’s not that I’m anti-tax, as you once suggested; it’s that I’m anti-bad-tax.鈥�

Each time a citizen expressed displeasure with the proposed solutions, Hales reminded the audience that this hearing was meant to generate ideas and not air grievances.

鈥淪o you don’t have any suggestions for something that would actually raise revenue,鈥� he said following Sanderson’s testimony. 鈥淏ecause obviously 鈥榥one of the above’ wouldn’t.鈥�

Many attendees, including Sanderson, complained about the council limiting testimony to idea generation.

鈥淟et me tell you something,鈥� Sanderson said. 鈥淲hen you come in here and you tell us we can only speak to this one topic 鈥� You only hear what you want to hear.鈥�

Commissioner Steve Novick said that the council will now spend the next few weeks crafting the measures for addition to the May ballot for Multnomah County voters. Each funding option will be listed separately, allowing voters to vote yes or no on each possibility.

鈥淭his method 鈥� will let us begin to repair long-ignored streets,鈥� Hales said. 鈥淎nd it will let people select an option that they find most palatable, and turn down those they find least palatable.鈥�