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After 14 months of work group meetings with citizens and public hearings to determine how to best use taxpayers’ dollars to pay for a backlog of city street work, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales announced Thursday that he and the City Council would instead look to the state for money.

鈥淒uring the passionate conversations we have had in Portland regarding transportation funding, many options were discussed, none of which were popular,鈥� Hales said in a news release. Some options were put forward by Portlanders that we do not have the authority to enact. As your mayor, I will go to Salem to seek that authority.鈥�

At a Jan. 8 hearing, Hales, Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick and the rest of the city council heard public testimony on funding options. They also asked at the hearing for suggestions from citizens for funding options and announced that they would seek an 鈥渁dvisory vote鈥� from the offered options on the May ballot. In an advisory vote, citizens would choose their favorites among three to six options. The council said it would choose several of the more popular options for adoption.

Many citizens at the hearing suggested requiring anyone parking downtown to purchase and display a sticker on their car indicating they had paid a parking fee separate from the usual pay-to-park fees. The council explained that state laws prohibit cities from assessing a 鈥渞egistration fee鈥� for cars, which is what the councilors believed the sticker system would equate to.

Hales said in the news release that Gov. John Kitzhaber and House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, both assured him that 鈥渁 statewide transportation package is a top priority鈥� for the Oregon Legislature in the session that begins in February.

鈥淲e are pleased to know that the Legislature is very interested in a transportation funding discussion this year,鈥� Novick said. 鈥淲e have said all along that the street fund we have proposed will not address all our needs and that we are counting on the state and federal governments to step up.鈥�