So much rides upon Auburn’s freight corridors — the economy, the movement of goods to markets, the ordinary driver’s ability to get around without cracking his skull.

But freight corridors like C Street Southeast are breaking down under the constant traffic. City officials say the big freight trucks have a lot to do with all that wear and tear.

Depending on the size of the truck and the street, they cite studies showing that freight trucks can cause up to 60 percent more damage than a passenger vehicle.

Fixes are imperative, and pricey, and current taxing methods cannot meet the need.

Recently, members of the Auburn Citizen’s Arterial Task Force recommended that city consider an alternative: imposing a license excise upon businesses that operate loading dock doors. There are an estimated 4,400 such loading dock doors within city limits.

Members of the City’s Public Works and Finance committees have been studying a draft ordinance detailing the excise and it could be up for adoption by the full City Council within a month.

First proposed for imposition in June 2009, the excise would be part of the business licensing procedure. It would be based upon the number of doors each business has. Those with two doors or fewer would be exempt. Upon payment of the appropriate excise amount, the applicant would be issued a loading dock door license to be posted outside each loading door door it operates in the city. Each license would be renewed annually at the time of the renewal date of the business’s annual city business license.

The rate collected would be revised periodically and levied at a rate that, when fully collected on all loading dock doors within the city does not exceed 50 percent of the city’s anticipated annual expenditures for freight mobility purposes.

All proceeds will be deposited into the Freight Mobility Fund, which is created within the office of the city’s finance director.

City officials first estimated an excise of $284 per door to meet the need. But at a City Council financial retreat last week, Councilwoman Sue Singer suggested easing into things by imposing $125 in first year, $250 the second year and up to $375 in the third year.

Fife also is considering an imposing an excise.

Singer’s concern is to give hard hit businesses time to recover from the economic downturn.

“It would be the money we bond against for the big freight corridors to get them fixed,” said Mayor Pete Lewis. “Those fixes are good for about seven years.”

Lewis said the revenue raised would not be enough by itself, but with other grant funds added in, it would be.

“It would be dedicated solely to freight corridors,” Lewis explained. “If the state or feds come out with an ongoing funding source for all or part of it, that sunsets that amount. If we get half from the state or feds, for example, we will reduce it by that amount.”

Nancy Wyatt, executive director of the Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce, voiced a concern at a recent meeting of the Public Works Committee.

“Part of the Chamber’s concern is that some of our members are getting double hit,” Wyatt said. “One particular case would be Oak Harbor Freight. Strictly speaking, they don’t store, but they do have warehouse doors. With their own trucking industry, they’re coming in and going immediately right back out, redistributing. So they don’t store like a Safeway or other warehouses.

The current wording now exempts such businesses.

“What I mean by double hit is we all know that the trucking industry is overtaxed to the hilt through the state,” Wyatt said.

“The Chambers of Commerce are trying go to the state and letting it know that our communities are being heavily impacted, yet the state is collecting all the funds, and we’re not getting it back for our arterial streets.”