News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
With only six days to go in the campaign for stable tax funding for the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement personnel are anxiously awaiting ballot returns in the mail-in election.
“On Friday the returns were around 9 percent,” Undersheriff Larry Blanton told The Nugget. “We’ve got a lot of work to do this week.”
Ballot Measures 9-35 and 9-36 must garner a turnout greater than 50 percent by 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 16, in order to pass.
Measures 9-35 and 9-36 create two separate taxing districts. District One is a countywide district that will provide services required by everyone in the county such as the jail, search and rescue and civil process service. The maximum assessment rate would be $1.25 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
The sheriff’s office says that the maximum rate will not be assessed until 2013; the 2007-08 rate (when the districts would take effect) is expected to be 95 cents per $1,000.
District Two covers areas outside municipal areas such as Sisters and Black Butte Ranch that either have police services of their own or contract with the sheriff’s office (as Sisters does). That district funds patrols, detective teams, 9-1-1 response, traffic safety, animal control and school resource officers, among other services.
The maximum rate would be $1.55 per $1,000; again, that rate is not expected until 2013. The rate for 2007-08 is expected to be $1.40 per $1,000.
The tax districts would replace a system of three-year serial levies (the current levy expires June 30, 2007). The levy system requires that the sheriff’s office go to the voters every three years for new funding.
Some voters in the Sisters area have expressed concern that rural voters are being asked to take on a disproportionate burden in paying for sheriff’s services, paying a total of $2.80/$1,000 for both districts compared to the $1.60/$1,000 under the current serial levy (see Letters to the Editor, page 2).
Undersheriff Larry Blanton said that the current levy funding for sheriff’s patrols and response to 9-1-1 calls won’t be adequate to meet demands over the next 15 years.
“We’re not where we should be now” in terms of paying for service in rural areas, he said.
Blanton emphatically disagreed with those who believe the proposed tax rates are crafted to be more appealing to urban voters.
“We don’t project and provide public safety based on political motives at all,” he said.
Blanton noted that the sheriff’s office did not come up with the rates on its own; a citizens committee formed by the Deschutes County Commissioners determined the rates needed to provide stable funding over the planning period of 15 years.
Blanton also emphasized that the rates in the measures are maximum rates that the sheriff does not expect to impose immediately.
Another concern raised by voters is whether tying rates to property taxes in a booming real estate market means giving the sheriff’s office too much money.
Blanton said growth was calculated into the equation when rates were determined.
“We’re anticipating ... about 7 percent growth in those assessed values,” he said.
That includes both increased value of existing homes and the addition of new properties onto the tax rolls.
“It’s possible if it’s more growth than that, that it may be further down the road from 2013... before we ... assess the maximum rate,” he said.
More growth also means more demand for service.
Blanton said the permanent, stable funding is critical for the sheriff’s office to plan ahead to cope with rising crime in a fast-growing metropolitan area.
“When it comes to quality of life issues and public safety… we’re obligated to do anything and everything we can do to be proactive,” Blanton said.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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