Sheriff’s tax district to go to voters

Sisters area voters will have a chance to decide on a permanent tax district for the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.

The county Board of Commissioners decided late Monday to place two special tax districts on the ballot, possibly in May 2006.

District 1 would cover the entire county and be assessed at a maximum rate of $1.25 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

District 2 would exclude the City of Sisters and Black Butte Ranch, which either have police services of their own or a separate contract with the sheriff’s office.

District 2 would be assessed at a maximum rate of $1.55 per $1,000.

The total maximum paid by a rural resident would be $2.80 per $1,000.

Urban residents currently pay 82 cents per $1,000; rural residents pay $1.60 per $1,000.

According to Commissioner Dennis Luke, the maximum rates are calculated based on the long-term (15 to 20 year) needs of the sheriff’s office.

“This is a maximum rate,” Luke said. “Each year during the (county) budget process, the sheriff will submit a budget. The budget committee sets the rate.”

Measure 50 tax reforms require tax districts to set a maximum rate for voter approval, Luke noted.

The commissioner also said that “it’s important to understand that one (tax district) can pass without the other.”

The permanent tax district would replace the current system of three-year serial levies. The current sheriff’s levy expires in 2007.

Sheriff Les Stiles has said that constant uncertainty about funding has made it hard to retain good employees and forces the sheriff’s office to spend a lot of time and energy campaigning.

He has lobbied for a permanent tax district for years.

The Sisters City Council will have a chance to review the proposal before it goes to the voters.

“The sheriff has to go to all three cities and we need an endorsement of the rate from all three cities,” Luke said.

The rates were determined after a study by a citizens committee that reviewed the 20-year needs of the sheriff’s office.