Pay more, get more

Nobody enjoys paying more when they fill their car with gas or register it at the DMV.

But neither ordeal seems quite so onerous when you know the extra money will pay for something you use.

This direct link between what we spend and what we receive is why we support, with one reservation, the package of tax and auto fee increases the Oregon Legislature approved earlier this year through House Bill 2001.

The part that bothers us is a 6-cents-per-gallon gas tax hike; it has a larger effect on Eastern Oregon, where geography necessitates longer drives. Fortunately the increases won’t take effect until the state has had two straight quarters of economic growth, or Jan. 1, 2011, whichever comes first.

The best part of HB 2001 is that almost half the projected $300 million per year — 46 percent — goes to cities and counties for street and road work.

Baker County’s annual share is estimated at $473,000, and Baker City’s $211,000.

The money is especially critical for the county, which gets about half the money for its road department from a federal program that ends in 2012.

HB 2001 would help fill part of that shortfall.

The city, too, has been falling behind on its street-maintenance schedule for more than a decade.

Paying a little more in exchange for smoother streets seems to us a fair deal.