Portland Commissioner Carmen Rubio abruptly shelved a plan to rework the fees the city charges private utilities on Tuesday following intense criticism from the telecommunications industry.
The plan had been due for a City Council vote Wednesday. Rubio said she pulled her proposal because colleagues on the Portland City Council were proposing amendments that would have reduced what companies pay to lay utility lines and build cell towers in the public right of way.
Telecom companies have been pushing for a new fee schedule that would lower what they pay, arguing Portland’s charges are higher than those in other big cities. Rubio, who oversees the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, said her colleagues’ amendments benefitted the businesses by reducing funding available for city services.
“Those amendments represented financial benefits to large telecom companies at the expense of our general fund, of which public safety is the largest recipient,” Rubio, who oversees the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, wrote in a statement Tuesday. “Public safety is a priority, and I am not willing to put those services at risk.”
Portland and the telecom industry have been at odds for decades over the conditions the city sets for operating in the right of way and provisions attached to franchise agreements.
The city has been working for two years to craft a cohesive schedule of fees to replace individual agreements negotiated between Portland and private utilities, such as cell phone companies, internet service providers and energy companies.
“This was a policy exercise, not a financial exercise,” said Jillian Schoene, Rubio’s chief of staff.
Telecom companies, though, have long complained that the city’s fees already are onerous. At a contentious City Council meeting last week, industry representatives said that Portland’s charges were deterring local investment in 5G wireless service and other new technologies.
“Portland is three or four times higher than any other West Coast market,” Portland Business Alliance Vice President Jon Isaacs testified. The PBA and telecom industry representatives asked the City Council to delay its vote and commission a study of how Portland’s fees compare to other markets.
Portland’s right-of-way fees generate roughly $90 million for the city annually. The industry and city staff disagree over whether Portland’s fee structure conforms with federal telecommunications rules.
Schoene said amendments proposed by Commissioner Mingus Mapps on Monday would have changed the way Portland calculates fees but didn’t evaluate how much revenue the change would cost the city.
“Without further analysis, we can’t move forward with this,” Schoene said. “There’s too much at risk.”
Mayor Ted Wheeler testified last week that he was confounded by the industry’s concerns. He said he couldn’t understand why companies with annual revenue north of $100 billion were outraged over Portland fees that total just a few hundred thousand dollars.
“I’m still trying to figure out what all the hubbub is about,” Wheeler said. The mayor said Portland’s fees were “certainly not out of the ballpark” compared to other cities, and said he believed they were conforming with federal rules.
Other commissioners had expressed skepticismabout the city’s math. Commissioner Rene Gonzalez said he was concerned that Portland’s fees might be raising the cost of telecom services and limiting their availability in parts of the city.
“That has some digital equity implications if it’s true,” Gonzalez said.
With the new fee schedule off Wednesday’s council agenda, it’s not clear what happens next. Schoene said the status quo remains in place while the commissioner evaluates the next steps.
— Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | 503-294-7699
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