With a local 4-cents per gallon fuel tax measure set to sunset in June 2023, the Brookings City Council will discuss the possibility of placing another measure on a future ballot.

At a workshop Monday, Councilors will discuss how long the fuel tax should last. They’ll discuss whether they should increase the current tax and if a measure should be on the November 2022 general election ballot or if it should go before voters in May 2023.

Brookings voters passed a local fuel tax measure the first time in May 2015. The initial tax was 4 cents per gallon and was to last for three years.

According to the city’s staff report, the Streets System Replacement Fee was repealed at the same time the tax was implemented, decreasing monthly utility bills by $2.98.

Voters approved a similar measure in 2018, renewing the tax for five years.

According to the staff report from City Manager Janell Howard, the city plans to update its pavement management plan as well as develop a long-term capital improvement plan for its streets.

Councilors will also discuss banning safe injection sites. Howard, noting that a handful of cities in Washington have adopted ordinances banning safe injection sites, included a draft ordinance.

“Like the ordinances in Washington, any ordinance prohibiting supervised drug facilities would be a land-use ordinance and would prohibit supervised drug consumption facilities in any zone within the city,” Howard wrote.

This discussion comes after Curry County Commissioner Court Boice in December proposed an ordinance eliminating state-mandated harm reduction services right before a grant application deadline for the Behavioral Health Resource Network grant.

One grant applicant was a local nonprofit, Brookings CORE Response, whose staff applied for $700,000 in Behavioral Health Resource dollars, which would help the nonprofit’s budget through June 2023.

The Brookings City Council’s workshop will occur after a special meeting at 4 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 888 Elk Drive in Brookings. Agendas are available at www.brookings.or.us.

SHARE →