By the time you read this, the start of the mail-in primary election will be less than a week away and the deadline for returning ballots, May 16, is not far behind.
Most of the local races in this primary are more academic than competitive, but there are two that are of particular importance in our area.
One is the police and library levy election. As stories in this newspaper and letters to the editor on this page today have pointed out, these levies are not a new tax. They are simply a reformulation of the former levies, which fund police and library services in this city.
We have, in the past, noted the insufficiency of financing for our local cops and to not pass the police levy would be foolish, even for the most hardened of fiscal conservatives.
Some have argued that it will be a tax increase. This is hardly predictable. In many, possibly most cases, it will shift dollars around following 1990’s Measure Five rules. In those cases, the total tax bill will increase no matter who gets the money.
In some cases, for properties not under Measure Five compression, the levy could cause a slight increase, matching the earliest year of the current levy . That would be a jump of approximately 36 cents per $1,000 from the final year of the current levy.
Most notably, this tax would capture new revenues from upcoming growth, something it does not do now.
Imagine upward of 1,000 homes coming on line in the next four or five years. Under the current tax scheme, the existing cost for law enforcement would be spread to those homes and the tax rate would decrease on everyone else.
Potentially, some properties in Measure Five compression might not even see an actual reduction in their taxes. As a result of those, probably few, cases, city law enforcement would see new revenues.
The problem with this is that all those new homes will drive a spike in demand for services, and for lack of funds, the department will be unable to supply needed law enforcement.
The most fundamental service a government should provide is protection for its citizens. Vote Yes on the levy. It’s time to get ready to vote.
The Linn County sheriff election also deserves your attention.
There’s no question that public safety is a big concern for many Sweet Home residents. That’s why your choice in this Sheriff’s election will determine how the laws are enforced in much of the county over the next four years.
The three candidates all have qualifications for the job, spelled out in some detail in our stories on pages 1, 7 and 8.
Sheriff Tim Mueller, who was appointed to the job last year in what has become the standard operating procedure for recent Sheriffs – retire and appoint your successor – has two challengers from Lebanon: Keith Leopard, a former Linn County Sheriff’s deputy, and Michael Spasaro, a former police officer and Drug Enforcement Administration agent.
The advantage for voters in weighing Mueller’s candidacy is that we’ve had nearly a year to watch him in action. Mueller is definitely not one to cut a wide swath, but he clearly knows the department inside and out – he’s worked there 22 years as of this May and he’s served in every rank the department offers.
The one real flaw in Mueller’s resume is that he’s an administrator more than what we traditionally think of as a cop. Until he was appointed Sheriff last year, he’d spent his entire Sheriff’s Office career in the jail. His only experience as a street cop was as a military policeman.
Bottom line: The sheriff is, for the most part, the status quo candidate. If you like what you see in the Sheriff’s Office, he’s your man.
Spasaro comes across as the opposite of Mueller. Spasaro talks about the thousands of doors he’s kicked down and arrests he’s made. He clearly believes that the key to beating crime in Linn County is to knock out the drug trade and he thinks he knows how to do it.
He definitely has the resume to back up some of his arguments. He’s worked as a street cop and 22 years as a DEA agent. Spasaro oozes energy and he talks a very good game. His vision is a fairly radical overhaul of how the Sheriff’s Office does business.
If you’re not happy with the law enforcement situation in Linn County, Spasaro may be your man.
Leopard is kind of the middle man in this race. As a former Linn County deputy, he knows how things work in the Sheriff’s Office, and he’s stated that, if elected, he’d streamline administration and cut jail costs. If streamlining is a viable option, we’re in support of streamlining.
Leopard says jail inmates like it too much in the county pen and that he could save money by making life less palatable for them.
The question about Leonard is whether he has the management experience and the temperament to lead the department. If he does, then he migbt be the guy.
The good thing here is that, unlike some races, there are distinct choices here – different personalities, different agendas. Pick one and vote.