Editor:
I lived in suburban Clackamas County 32 years before moving to Linn County.
For much of that time the county was a hotbed of population growth, planning fiascos, and speculation. As a land use and transportation specialist, I served for almost eight years on the Gladstone Planning Commission. On many occasions I witnessed major decisions being made with little or no public involvement.
An area of deep concern was the practice of diverting millions in property taxes to urban renewal districts.
Urban renewal districts were originally formed to fund revitalization of decaying inner cities.
They operate as a separate agency with their own budget. The funding comes from freezing the tax rate in the district and borrowing millions to finance street and infrastructure improvements. The improvements are paid for by borrowing, which is eventually paid back as property values increase.
UR has become a development tool that’s easily abused. Cities are declaring areas to be “blighted” in order to fund improvements on bare land. Many have maxed out the amount of taxes diverted to UR allowable under Oregon law.
Unfortunately, Lebanon is one of them.
An urban renewal district is a separate government agency that has its own board. In Lebanon, the mayor is the board chair, the Budget Committee chair, and chair of the UR Budget Committee
It’s an invitation to conflicts of interest.
Urban renewal can be used discretely, but that often isn’t the case. Residents are shocked when they discover it takes millions in property taxes annually from schools, police and emergency services. Those entities are increasingly reliant on bond measures to backfill their budgets.
The Lebanon Urban Renewal Agency has a large bond payment due in 2028. Meanwhile, the city is at risk of ending 2027 with a budget deficit.
Alongside urban renewal is an organization founded to promote downtown. The Lebanon Downtown Association (LDA) is an officially recognized entity with the authority to award grants. In 2022 The LDA lost its non-profit status in an accounting scandal.
Ken Jackola was a board member of the LDA in 2019 and 2020. In 2022 he received a $100,000 LDA grant for housing improvements to his building on Main St. Jackola was awarded the grant during the time the LDA was not in compliance. A few months later the organization collapsed.
The LDA was revived with the assistance of a founding member, Dala Johnson. Here’s an excerpt from a July 2023 “Lebanon Local” article that describes the severity of the situation:
“Dala Johnson, a former executive board member until 2018, said she returned to the nonprofit at the beginning of 2023 in an effort to straighten out legal and organizational problems it was having. The board, she said, had not maintained filings with the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Justice, and had lost its status as a nonprofit entity. As such, it also was at risk of losing good faith with Oregon Main Street (through Main Street America), a relationship Johnson said she had worked hard in the beginning to foster.
“Further muddying the waters of perception is the fact that the Jackolas, who now have positions of leadership as mayor and LDA president, have received funding through LDA for what is, essentially, their residence. In 2022, the Jackolas received $100,000 from a LDA revitalization grant (funded through the Oregon Main Street Program) for the remodeling of downtown property they own, namely the Courtney Building’s second story, where they live.
Though Davis said she does not believe the Jackolas are intentionally using their positions to benefit themselves financially, she said it just looks bad and may be a conflict of interest.”
Questions arise about what the taxpayers got for their $100,000 investment, and why Jackola and his wife are registered to vote at two different addresses in their building.
I recently received a text message stating that Jackola’s campaign for state representative isn’t about insiders, but most of his campaign donations are from a few sources, including developers with their eyes on filling wetlands to accommodate growth.
Expect to hear these concerns are a hit job or veiled political maneuver. That’s clearly not the case. The information was easily located on government and the Lebanon Local websites.
Les Poole
Sweet Home