The Deschutes County Commission will meet this evening, Monday, July 21 at 5:30pm in the commissioner’s hearing room at the county administration building located at 1300 NW Wall Street in Bend to hold a public hearing to discuss the formation of a Bend Transit District to provide a stable source of funding for public transportation in Bend.
A group calling itself Citizens for Bend Area Transit formed to propose a ballot measure that would allow the formation of the transit district with its own board of directors, similar to the Bend Park and Rec and Deschutes County Library districts, which would collect an annual property tax of 39 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, or about $70 a year from the “average” Bend homeowner, according to the group’s website.
The transit district would also extend Bend Area Transportation operations by two hours per day, and provide access to residents of Deschutes River Woods, as well as improvements to existing routes, the website says.
