TriMet and Lane County Transit will get some additional money from an increase in payroll taxes in the areas they serve. The tax will increase from .7% to .8%. The Senate has already approved the bill, so it now goes to Governor Kulongoski for his signature.

Raising the tax was one of the priorities for several environmental groups in Oregon, who want to increase spending on mass transit. On the Oregon League of Conservation Voters blog, the group’s Evan Manvel writes, “Oregonians desperately need transportation choices, especially those one million Oregonians who are too young, old, poor or infirm to drive. This bill helps provide those choices.”

Senate Bill 34 allows TriMet and Lane County Transit to increase payroll taxes once the economy improves.  Businesses in those areas pay a .7% payroll to support mass transit.  The bill nudges it up to .8% over a ten-year period.

Courtesy Metro

It was approved on a 20-9 vote and now goes to the House.

The money raised by this tax goes for operations, such things as paying salaries and maintaining tracks, rail cars and buses

More for information see the OLCV blog.