Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home City Council last week approved resolutions placing local option tax levy renewals on the May 16 ballot.
The levies will continue funding for police and library services. The current four-year levies expire on June 30, 2007.
“By seeking voter approval in May instead of waiting until the November election, staff will have a six-month head start on preparing for the new subdivisions and housing projects that are quickly coming on line in Sweet Home,” said city Finance Director Pat Gray.
The levies will require 50 percent voter turnout to be valid.
In the past, the levies have been for a fixed dollar amount, growing by 3 percent per year. In this election, the levies will be rate-based over the next four years.
The proposed tax rate for the library levy will be 62 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. That is expected to raise an estimated $673,000 over four years, Gray said.
The police levy will be $6.40 per $1,000 of assessed valuation and is expected to raise $6.95 million over a four-year period, she said.
Both levies match the rates of the first year of the current levies, Gray said. The rate-based approach will allow the city to tax new development, expanding services with the new growth. Under the fixed-dollar levies, rates go down with the growth of property values and new construction
In the current fiscal year, 2005-06, the police tax rate is $6.04 per $1,000, raising $1.73 million per year. The library tax rate is 62.7 cents per $1,000, raising $170,000 in revenues annually.
Fixed-dollar levy revenues do not increase with growth.