Milwaukie water bills increasing slightly this july 2025?
Even if you consume no city water but are connected, your water bill is fixed at some $86 per month
Above shows that the City of Milwaukie is looking to increase the fixed fee called SSMP from $6.06 to $6.40 per month starting this July. SSMP funds street maintenance. Also shown is that the City is looking to increase the fixed fee called SAFE from $6.75 to $7.11. SAFE is for funding new sidewalks and bicycle paths. These fees I cite here are for single-family home city water and sewer users.
So, with these two fixed fee increases, the absolute minimum a single-family home will be charged now becomes just over $86 per month instead of the current absolute minimum of just over $85 per month.
But let's say you are a water miser and consume 1 CCF per month of water in a single-family home, your bill now becomes $94.47 starting this July 2025, instead of the current $93.77.
But there could be a much bigger increase coming, as the Milwaukie Budget Committee is meeting this Monday evening (May 12, 2025), and the City finance staff and City Council could end up adding a new fee to City water bills. Stay tuned. I might know more about this, this weekend.
(posted by Elvis Clark on May 9, 2025)
Gasoline prices down a dime, locally/nationally-may v. april
Mississippi gasoline is lowest nationally at $2.66 while California is at $4.78 & Washington $4.26
Locally, here in Milwaukie, cash regular gasoline starts the month of March at $3.629 per gallon at the Astro on McLoughlin in downtown Milwaukie, $3.699 at the FasTrak at Linwood and King, and $3.779 at the Space Age gasoline station at 42nd and Harrison.
OPEC is said to be increasing its oil supply, even as crude oil prices slump. Maybe the U.S administration is successfully pressing Saudi Arabia (a key member of OPEC) to push supply higher so as to bring down petroleum prices and reduce Russia's key source of funding its war with Ukraine - that being its crude oil exports.
Meanwhile, in our neck of the woods:
The Westcoast is a train wreck when it comes to the cost of energy, and it is mostly due to an unbalanced pursuit of "green energy" and to bloated state governments looking to tax and regulate most all related energy activities. So, while the rest of the U.S is paying only in the $2.50 to $3.50 range for gasoline, the West Coast is paying about $4, or more, for the same gasoline; excepting West Coast state laws require a different blend of gasoline in the summertime - a more expensive blend.
Oregon doesn't have any of its own oil refineries for making and supplying gasoline, and so it is dependent on its neighboring states to supply it with gasoline and other petroleum products. And so, California with its decline in oil refineries (two more plan to close in the coming year) is causing Oregon to be the 4th highest state for the cost of gasoline among the 50 U.S states.
See the panel chart immediately below for the state-by-state comparison of gasoline prices as of May 1, 2025, a few days ago now (the above graph is for May 4, 2025, but the relative high cost for Oregonians remains the same).
Here's a great article that explains a lot about the gasoline supply dynamics on the West Coast and nationally:
Oregon Gas Prices Edge Up | News Radio 1190 KEX
And it is about to get only worse for the cost of gasoline in Oregon, as the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) eyes raising the state tax on gasoline by another 20 cents - if approved by the state legislature and Governor. This would raise the state gasoline tax to 60 cents per gallon from the current state tax rate of 40 cents per gallon; and with Portland's city gasoline tax of 10 cents, Portland drivers would be taxed a total of 70 cents per gallon - not including the federal gas tax of 18 cents. Add to the proposed state and Portland gas taxes, the federal gas tax of 18 cents - making gasoline taxed at a total rate approaching $1 per gallon, or more than a quarter of the current cost of a gallon of gasoline locally in Portland.
The Oregon legislature is also considering hiking the biannual vehicle registration renewal, an 8% tire tax, a hike in the payroll tax, a road mileage fee for all-electric and hybrid-electric cars, and a car sales tax - all to fund a highly expensive government transportation bureau (namely the Oregon Department of Transportation, paying government workers and contractors more and more to just maintain the existing road system let alone build any new physical road capacity).
source of price data: AAA
(posted by Elvis Clark on May 4, 2025)
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Gamba calls Oregonians petulant children - he is your lord?
Milwaukie's state representative, Gamba, co-sponsors a bill to bypass voters & raise local gas taxes
Milwaukie state representative Mark Gamba (photo to the right here) is quoted by the Oregon Public Broadcasting news agency as saying the following:
“Every year, cities and counties get poorer and poorer and their infrastructure gets older and older,” said state Rep. Mark Gamba, a Democratic sponsor of the bill and the former mayor of Milwaukie. “That’s a recipe for bad things.”
Gamba said voters too often act like “petulant children” standing in the way of taxes that are necessary to replace vital infrastructure like roads, sewage plants and libraries.
“Someone needs to be the responsible adult in the room,” he told OPB. “And I mean that so emphatically that I would be thrilled if you quoted me.”
Here is the link to this OPB news reporting on Gamba: Should Oregon cities be allowed to raise gas taxes without asking voters? - OPB
I cannot phantom why the people of Milwaukie put up with Gamba and regularly vote for him. People talk of President Trump acting like a dictator, but Gamba actually wants to be a dictator.
In this current legislation he is co-sponsoring, Gamba is wanting to take away the ability of voters in Milwaukie and other cities and counties to vote on proposed local gasoline tax increases.
Remember when he is Mayor of Milwaukie and he had the City Council pass a resolution to ban natural gas, and make Milwaukians totally dependent on PGE the local electric utility? That is Gamba. (Fortunately, federal law and courts prevent cities from enacting such bans.)
Remember when he is Mayor, Gamba had the City Council pass Milwaukie's Urban Renewal District without voters having a say - Urban Renewal reduces the city's monies for basic services like police and fire.
Remember also Gamba constantly talks of wanting to undo property tax limits - essentially doubling Milwaukians property tax bills.
Gamba champions socialist politicians like U.S Senator Bernie Sanders.
It is politicians like Gamba that cause Oregon to have the 8th highest cost of living among the 50 U.S states.
(posted by Elvis Clark on February 10, 2025)
Oregon is the 8th most expensive state to live in
Oregon is the eighth highest for the cost of living among the 50 U.S states
Oregon suffers economically from too many regulations/economic restrictions. This according to the CATO Institute which ranks Oregon 46th out 50 for most restrictive economic regulations. Oregon's regulatory restrictions show up in Oregon having the 8th highest cost of living among the 50 U.S states.
It costs 8.5% per more to live in Oregon than the average for all 50 U.S states. In other words, in the above chart, Oregon's cost of living is 108.5% of the average for the 50 U.S states.
As an example of Oregon's restrictive economic regulations, Oregon Governor Kotek just recently issued an executive order making general contractors for any Oregon public construction project pay higher wages and salaries set by the state's big unions. This is bound to make it even more expensive for the Oregon Department of Transportation to maintain public highways and for Oregon School Districts to build new school buildings. This will have a ripple effect on private construction costs, too, driving them higher, as private construction and public construction compete for the same labor resources.
Meanwhile, Republican states enjoy the lowest cost of living, as against Blue Oregon
In the chart above, if you live in Arkansas for example, which is a Republican state having voted for Trump for president, your cost of living is only 89.6% of the average cost of living for the 50 U.S states collectively.
Republican states like those above tend to have more economic regulatory freedom than a Blue state like Oregon, according to the CATO Institute. And this would seem to help these Republican states maintain a lower cost of living.
The above charts are based on the latest annual reporting on state economic wellbeing by the U.S Bureau of Economic Analysis, a branch of the federal government.
(posted by Elvis Clark on January 3, 2025.)
PGE's Electric Rates are up 50% in last 5 years
PGE's rates will go up 5.5% this January 2025, after Milwaukie helps add another 3% to PGE Bills
Here's Oregon Public Broadcasting's reporting on this January 2025 PGE electricity rate increase:
PGE residential rates to climb 5.5%, bringing average monthly power bill to $160 - OPB
If you recall, this last summer the City of Milwaukie hiked its tax on PGE utility bills from 1.5% of bill total up to 4.5% bill total, costing Milwaukie residents about $5 per month extra in utility costs. Supposedly this extra tax burden will go towards changing the temperature of the earth, although it might be hard to discern this effect among all other things that impact the temperature of the earth.
Combining PGE's 5.5% rate increase with Milwaukie's city tax increase on PGE's utility bills of 3%, Milwaukie residents will pay 8.5% more for electricity than was just the case some 7 months ago.
But supposedly we should all feel good about ourselves because of our monetary sacrifice to the God of Climate. And Milwaukie's Climate Czar will very surely enjoy your monetary burden (Milwaukie's PGE tax, that is), boosting the new Czar's own fortunes and comfort from their office chair and desk at City Hall.
Oh, and changing the temperature of the earth was a "Goal" of Milwaukie City Council, and now that this goal has been funded by taxing city residents on their utility bills; the Council now wants to set new goals so that City Hall continues on expanding its tax and fee collections for services you likely do not really want to pay for, let alone care much about.
(posted by Elvis Clark on December 23, 2024)
Northwest Natural gas utility agrees to lower rate increase
Come November Northwest Natural gas utility may be able to fully offset any increase in its rates
Northwest Natural has agreed to lower its proposed rate increase from 17% down to 7%. It agreed to this with a consortium of environmental and community groups. This agreement needs approval from the Oregon Public Utility Commission.
But each November, Northwest Natural adjusts its rates for its actual wholesale cost of natural gas supplies. And Northwest Natural's wholesale cost of natural gas has been falling so far this year through this month. And so, the proposed 7% rate increase has a pretty good chance of disappearing entirely - no increase in rates at all starting this next Winter - as the 7% increase might just get fully offset by the adjustment downward for Northwest's wholesale cost of natural gas.
Here's OPB's reporting on Northwest Natural's settlement with environmental and community groups:
NW Natural rate hike could be limited after settlement - OPB
(posted by Elvis Clark on August 17, 2024)
Signs that inflation is entrenched in the U.S Economy
The U.S postal service is raising the cost of a stamp by 5 cents - July 14, 2024
Over the last 20 years, the cost of a first-class stamp has increased at an annual rate of over 3% per year. But between July of last year (2023) and this coming July, the stamp price is set to increase by over 12%.
(posted by Elvis Clark on April 10, 2024, with brief update on 4/11/24 parenthetically in the panel to the right of here.)
Gold prices are on a tear higher, up over 20% since a year ago.
Gold prices have really surged the last two months, seemingly because the U.S Federal Reserve (central bank) is talking about cutting interest rates. (It surged even higher on Friday 4/11/24 because of war talk between Israel and Iran.)
Those buying gold and driving its price higher suspect that inflation will get worse if the Federal Reserve does act and lower interest rates, allowing people to more easily borrow and spend monies on goods and services. This week on Tuesday the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the consumer price index increased this last month (March) over the previous month (February) by 0.4%. A monthly rate of 0.4% translates into an annual rate of inflation of about 5%.
Over the last 55 years, dating back to the year 1969, gold has actually increased at the high rate of 8% per year. Hence, gold is not too far off from equaling the returns stock investors have generally experienced over the last 55 years. There is a 20-year period (1980s and 1990s) in which gold prices were essentially unchanged. So, gold investors have to have a lot of patience to ride out some tough times.
Clackamas is the 5th least affordable county in U.s
The Median Home Price in Clackamas is said to be over $600k now.
What is interesting in the following news link is that Multnomah County doesn't make the list of 25 least house affordable counties in the nation: Homeownership now ‘unaffordable’ in these Northern California counties: study | KRON4
Lately, it seems upper income people have been fleeing the high tax, high crime county of Multnomah for Clackamas County. So, Clackamas got a housing demand surge maybe because of the escape from Portland and Multnomah. Lake Oswego probably also is part of the reason this data shows Clackamas as unaffordable.
(posted by Elvis Clark on January 19, 2024)
U.s Consumer price inflation is out of control
Loss of U.S Oil production not helping in the battle against high inflation.
A boom in U.S Oil Production in 2015 had brought inflation down to zero, as it caused OPEC and Russia to lose their control of world oil and other energy prices. Now OPEC and Russia are back in control of world oil prices.
(posted by Elvis Clark on October 14, 2022)
Groceries cost about 9% More In oregon
(posted by Elvis Clark on July 27, 2022)
Housing costs about 55% More in Oregon
(posted by Elvis Clark on July 27, 2022)
Oregon is only slightly more expensive for Health care
(posted by Elvis Clark on July 27, 2022)
Oregon is also slightly more costly for Uitilities
(posted by Elvis Clark on July 27, 2022)
Oregon is transportation Costly But highest?
I would think California is more Costly for Transportation than Oregon, and so questionable
(posted by Elvis Clark on July 27, 2022)
Oregon loses electric competitivness
In the Year 2001, Oregon enacted a public purpose fee of 3% on private utility electricity bills
Additionally, Oregon began to push its major utilities, PGE and PacifiCorp, to radically reduce electricity generated from coal and natural gas fuels, favoring wind mills and roof top solar panels in place of these conventional sources of electricity generation.
Now, the Oregon Public Utility Commission at the behest of Oregon's Governor is wanting these utilities to build up the capacity to charge most of Oregon's fleet of automobiles and trucks with electricity (replacing gasoline in transportation). Oregon's politicians lack the sense of the substantive costs of building the extra electric distribution line capacity necessary to electrify Oregon's 4 million stock of automobiles, risking pushing Oregon's electric bills much higher.
(posted by Elvis Clark on May 25, 2021)
Equivalent income to that of $70,000 in portland, or Area
If you make a middle class income of say $70,000 in the Portland, Oregon, metro area....what sort of income would you need if living in other selected cities (charted above) to maintain your Portland, Oregon, lifestyle?
Well you could make as little as $49,000 in Boise, Idaho, and still be as well off as you are in Portland, Oregon; or a little more than $50,000 if living in Myrtle Beach, S.Carolina.
On the other hand, if you move to Seattle, you would have to increase your income by $5,000 to $75,000 per year in order to afford the same life style as you currently have in Portland, Oregon. Or, increase your income to over $95,000 per year to squeeze by in San Francisco, California.
This data is compiled from Bank Rate. Com which gets their inflation data from the Council of Community and Economic Research.
p.s. by taking one or two snap shots per year, it is possible to back into the annual consumer inflation rate for the Portland, Oregon, metro area...the Portland area Consumer Price Index (CPI, local inflation index) is formally discontinued by the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics in the year 2017. But with Bank Rate and other surveys of cost of living by metro areas relative to Portland (Or) and with CPIs still prepared by the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics for other Cities; it is very possible to approximate Portland's absolute rate of inflation for a given period.
(posted by Elvis Clark 5/25/19)
key Inflation graph: Apartment Rents in Portland very high
Monitoring local Inflation
The graph above here on Comparative rental costs in the Portland Oregon area versus other selected cities is compiled from Bank Rate. com survey of the cost of living in various cities across the U.S. Bank Rate receives this living cost data from the The Council for Community and Economic Research. This Council is in existence for decades and uses an army of private persons doing independent surveys of costs in Cities across the U.S.
The cities I choose in the chart above for comparison are either regional, western U.S. or other 'attractive livable cities' to me.
Shelter costs, which apartment rental here is a proxy, account for a relatively large share of the cost of living - probably approaching a third of the total cost of living for middle income folks.
I will be posting some more cost of living comparisons between the Portland area and other U.S cities over the next few days. For example, the cost of a hair cut or a visit to a beauty salon.
I will use these Bank Rate cost of living data to begin our own index of inflation for the Portland Oregon Metro area. Every six months from now will compile the cost data from Bank Rate, as the Bank Rate data is updated.
(posted by Elvis Clark on 5/16/19)