Editor:
As I start this, I know it will seem rambling. However in the end, it is all about the same thing.
First, I am in support of the request of the Cemetery District, even though I know that the compression factor, however small, has an effect on other things. More about that later.
The district just has too much history and is such an important part of our community to let go downhill. Contrary to what another letter writer has said, their portion of a funeral service is small.
Second, the story about the Police Department and the union pursuing arbitration has several troubling factors. From what has been reported, one of the issues is compensatory time due to the schedules the officers work. It’s my understanding that this schedule is one that the officers themselves wanted a couple of years ago, as it would be more beneficial to them. And now they want extra money for having to work it. Sorry, but I don’t understand.
As to the issue of paying off the bond early, this was a promise made to the taxpayers who paid the bill that if possible, the bond would be paid off early thereby saving them some money. In my own personal life, I made the decision to put extra money on my house payments and paid a lump sum at the end to save interest money that could have gone to the bank, but it made sense to me to save the extra money.
I guess the money could have been held back and paid out in salaries and benefits, but this would have been a one-time source. And if property values didn’t go up to provide the money the next time, we would have been in worse shape.
I have seen the argument used many times that increases need to be made in order to make salaries on a par to what is being made in other communities. Unless all factors are equal between the communities, that just doesn’t wash. Population figures alone don’t tell the story. As to saying that people will look for jobs elsewhere, that is and has always been the story with small towns.
Some years ago, along with the ladies who worked at City Hall, I helped in a fund-raising car wash to send an officer to receive additional training as the city didn’t have the money to send him. A few short months after returning, he used this advanced training to help secure a job with the county Sheriff’s Office. These things will always happen. It’s just a fact of life in small towns.
I can sympathize with anyone who wants a pay increase. Being on Social Security, I would like to have had one the last couple of years. I’m sure the certified and classified unions of the Sweet Home School District would like one, yet they just signed a contract for zero pay raises. In fact, several of the classified staff had hours cut, which resulted in a pay decrease.
Now a discussion is in the works looking at a four-day school week, which will result in a 20-percent decrease for many classified employees. Couple this with the fact that the School District pays less than $900 toward their insurance and they pick up the rest, in many cases, more than 30 percent. By contrast, the city pays more than $1,500, and employees pay 5 percent.
Virtually all of our problems lie with property values. Both the police and library levies are on rate-based levies, meaning as values go down, the revenues go down. Unfortunately, the over-inflated values of a few years ago caused in many cases by the greed of banks and lending institutions have now come back to bite us. Until and unless these values come back, our problems will continue to grow.
Now that I have vented on many issues, I do think there is one thing that can be done to help. We are regulated in our taxing by Measure 5, capping at $5 per $1,000 for school districts and $10 per $1,000 for all other taxing districts. I know that the League of Oregon Cities is trying to get legislators, in some fashion, to do away with the measure and free up taxing districts.
I think this would be a mistake as it would take us back to the days when tax rates soared and led up to the measure. However, I do think it is time to amend the measure and give some relief to all the problems now being caused. Measure 5 should be amended not repealed, raising the limit for school districts to $6 and all others to $13.
The law went into effect in 1990 or 1991 and has never been changed, even though several other taxing entities have been added to the mix, such as the Extension Service and the veterans’ facility in Lebanon.
Now we may be looking at another one, the aquatics district to fund the community swimming pool, which by the way, needs to be kept going. The idea to close it and cement over it is asinine and should not even be considered.
All of these taxing districts share the same $10 pie, and when property values don’t keep up, the budget dollars are compressed to fit into the $10 resulting in the situation we have now.
Sweet Home is not unique to this problem. Many other cities are having the same problems, and while land use issues and state mandates do contribute to the problem, such as suggested by the Albany paper, until we amend the 20-year-old measure and let it keep up with the times, we will continue to have problems. Surely someone in the state legislature is smart enough to come up with language in a ballot measure that would let voters decide.
Not all of us use all the things available to us – for instance, I don’t use the pool, but it’s a viable part of our community and is needed.
Thankfully, I haven’t needed the services of the Fire and Ambulance District, but I fully support and appreciate its expertise. The same can be said of the Police Department. I fully support a well-staffed and well-paid (and safe) department, but do think they need to look more at the community as a whole and what the community can afford under the conditions we work with.
I will end as I started, saying that I support the Cemetery District as I will be planted there, and I would like the grass to be green and occasionally mowed.
Dave Holley
Sweet Home