News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Registered voters should have received their mail-in ballots, which must be returned to the county clerk by March 11. More than half those ballots need to be returned, or the levy election will not be valid under provisions of Measure 47, passed last November.
The sheriff is asking voters for $9.4 million per year for three years. Of that, $7.2 million is needed to maintain the existing services and personnel, according to Brown. About $1.8 million would open and operate the new juvenile jail.
The remaining $400,000 adds 35 more beds in the adult jail (150 to 185) in partial response to Measure 11.
"Under Measure 11, people who used to violate parole or probation were sentenced to the state penitentiary. Now they are sentence to county jail. So, as of January 1, we have 24 inmates who otherwise would have gone to the penitentiary but who will instead spend up to a year at the county jail," Brown said.
Currently in the sheriff's department, there are 56 authorized positions, sergeant and below, including detectives.
"We have seven vacant positions. We froze hiring until we know whether we pass the levy," Brown said.
Although the Sisters area has four authorized positions, one remains vacant until after the election, he said.
Brown would like to maintain a deputy ratio of .82 per thousand of population.
He said that calls for service has climbed from 17,000 in 1994 to 47,000 in 1996.
The sheriff's department does receive $2.5 million from the county general fund, and most of that is made up of hotel/motel receipts. "We handle a tremendous amount of tourists," Brown said.
Another $500,000 is received through law enforcement contracts, such as those with the Forest Service and state marine board.
"So, without the levy, we would have $3 million. That be enough only for mandated service: emergency, search and rescue, court security and process and contract work," Brown said.
In other words, there would be no money to put deputies on the street providing law enforcement to the largely rural Deschutes County, according to Brown.
The levy is split, depending on whether a property is protected by other law enforcement.
"If you live in Sisters or Black Butte, where you already pay for police, you pay a lower levy rate than those who depend on the sheriff's department," Brown said.
He estimated the city rate will be approximately $.90 per thousand, the unincorporated rate $1.23.
For the lower rate, city dwellers would pay their portion for operation of the jail, the juvenile jail, disaster preparedness and management such as during the Skeleton fire, narcotics enforcement, some truck safety inspections and court security, serving of court orders, etc.
If Measure 40 is found to be legal, more people waiting trial would be locked up, adding to the burden on the system imposed by Measure 11. Together, the two laws will require the locking up of thousands of people, state-wide.
The state is paying for a regional correction facility for Deschutes Jefferson and Crook counties. It is being built with state funds to hold 80 inmates next to the existing jail, although some of the operating costs will be borne locally, Brown said.
Brown said that one of his responses to Measure 11 will be to institute what he called "a chain gang without the chains."
"We will have inmate work crews out in the county, picking up litter, cleaning streets. That will be part of their sanction, rather than keeping them locked up in jail," Brown said.
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