When you pick up your ballot for the Nov. 7 election, part of it should look very familiar.
That’s because, if you looked at your ballot on May 16, you would have seen two identical ballot issues: a levy to fund the Sweet Home Police Department and one to fund the library.
The reason they’re back again is not because a majority of voters did not support them. It’s because not enough voters returned ballots in the election.
It was close. If 30 more voters had bothered to cast their ballots, the levies probably would have passed and the city would not be going through the expense, both in time and money, of submitting the question to the electorate once again.
Of course, this time the double majority won’t be required in November, but your vote may actually count more this time around. If it’s close, one vote can be the difference.
Lest we sound preachy, we understand that the primary election wasn’t particularly riveting. It’s not too thrilling to vote for people who are running unopposed. Let’s face it – a lot of people just don’t care who wins.
Sweet Home citizens actually did represent, to use current venacular, compared to the rest of the county. We had the second-highest turnout, behind Harrisburg, which had a tax for parks on its ballot.
But after we stop patting ourselves on the back, we need to face the fact that we’ve got these levies back in front of us and this time we need to take care of business.
These levies simply renew the existing levies, which expire next June 30. They will be different from the current police and library levies in that they will be rate-based, not fixed-dollar levies. Rate-based levies allow the city to tax new development and benefit from increases in property values.
Whether or not you feel inclined to ensure that the library and the police department have dependable funding is entirely up to you.
But all of Sweet Home’s voters should make their choices known this time around. You’re a citizen. Act like one.