As ballots arrive for the Nov. 4 Special Election, Linn County Voters are being asked to approve a law enforcement levy for the Linn County Sheriff’s Office that will amount to a 10-cent increase over the current levy.
Ballots were mailed to local addresses last week.
The Sheriff’s Office is currently in the final year of the four-year levy approved by voters in 2021, which kicked in on July 1, 2022. The current levy, which will end June 30, 2026, is $2.98 per $1,000 of assessed property value. If approved, the new four-year levy would replace the existing one and would extend through June of 2030.
According to the Linn County Clerk’s Office, which assesses taxes, the proposed 10-cent increase would add $25 per year from the current rate to a tax bill for a property worth $250,000. The owner of a home assessed at $250,000 would pay $64.17 per month or $770 per year for Sheriff’s Office services.
The levy is expected to raise $184,595,812 over the next four years.
A levy calculator is available at www.linnsheriff.org/levy to assist property owners in figuring out what their tax would be.
Levy revenues fund 24-hour patrol activities, traffic operations and criminal investigations conducted by the department, emergency management and response, including search and rescue operations, operation and maintenance of the 252-bed County Jail, prosecution by the District Attorney’s Office, and Juvenile Department operations.
Sheriff Michelle Duncan said the 10-cent increase would mostly cover the increased costs of maintaining current services.
“We have seen an increase in the cost of equipment and personnel that has exceeded what is being funded by the current levy,” she said.
“However, some would be used to increase our capabilities as far as emergency management and response to disasters such as wildfires, flooding, mass power outages, etc.
“We are also seeing a growing need to enhance our Search and Rescue capabilities. With the technology improvements most people know where they are, but call because they are unable to get out of the wilderness on their own due to a medical event, such as broken ankles/legs, heart attacks, etc. We need to increase our medical training and equipment, so we can treat them on scene when we reach them. “
According to the Sheriff’s Office, in the current fiscal year (2025-26), the law enforcement levy makes up 52.1% of the department’s funding, a total of $28.28 million. The levy funds 145 of the Sheriff’s Office’s 195 positions – 74%. The remainder of the department’s funding comes from the county General Fund and grants.
The Sheriff’s Office says that, in addition to maintaining current operations, the 10-cent hike in the levy would “increase resources for Search and Rescue capabilities to respond and provide medical care during rescue missions; and enhance emergency response initiatives county-wide related to wildfires, flooding, severe weather and other catastrophic events through disaster planning, prevention and mitigation efforts,” as well as continued upgrades to the 9-1-1 center operations.
The existing levy, approved by voters in November 2021, marked a 15-cent increase from the previous levy, approved in 2018. The Sheriff’s Office had asked for $3.08 the previous year, but it was rejected by some 63% of voters.
Due to a technicality that occurred when Measure 50 passed in 1997, limiting the total amount of property tax revenue that can be collected for local governments and schools, both Sweet Home police and the Sheriff’s Office have had to ask voters to approve temporary local option levies every four years to fund their law enforcement.
Duncan said that if voters do not approve the levy request, “we would need to make significant cuts to staff.”
“The levy funds over half of the Sheriff’s Office,” she said, emphasizing that “all the services we provide would be significantly reduced. There would be a significant delay in response times, if we would have the ability to respond at all.”
Other impacts would be reduced jail capacity and the department’s ability to quickly respond and communicate to the public regarding disasters, evacuations, and search and rescue calls. Reduced staffing would delay all of those functions, she said.
“Again, it is about keeping our communities safe from crime, but also about having those quick responses when lives are in danger. We have to have the staff and equipment to get it all done.”