Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home City Council has directed city staff to develop a proposal for city voters to renew tax levies that fund library and law enforcement services.
Police Chief Bob Burford asked the council during its regular meeting on Feb. 14 whether it would be interested in placing the law enforcement levy on the ballot on May 16.
A temporary levy, which funds nearly all of Sweet Home Police Department’s budget, expires on June 30, 2007. The city will need to receive the approval of voters prior to the expiration of the levy to continue operating the department at its current service level.
City staff will seek rate-based levies to replace the existing fixed-amount levies. A rate-based levy will impose a tax per $1,000 of property valuation. A fixed-amount levy imposes a fixed total amount of taxes on Sweet Home properties. As property values rise, the rate per $1,000 decreases. Revenues under the rate-based levy would increase as property values rise and new construction is completed.
With revenue shortfalls related to decreasing property values a couple of years ago and 1990’s Measure Five limitations, the city has had to transfer funds from its general fund to maintain law enforcement service levels. The city transferred approximately $100,000 this year.
“Our original plan had been to go out at the November election for renewal,” Burford said.
Officials have reconsidered, given the growth Sweet Home faces right now.
“We’re a little concerned with the amount of growth we’re seeing,” City Manager Craig Martin said. Burford noted that there are currently more than 1,100 lots in various stages of development, with more on the near horizon.
“We have been watching the progress of various housing and community development projects with excited interest as well as some apprehension,” he said. “In addition to these lots, components of the Santiam River Club project will also be moving into the construction phase in late 2006 or early 2007, with scheduled completion in 2008.
“We anticipate that these developments when taken in whole will have significant impact on our already strained ability to provide emergency police services; however, since we are entering into the final year of our current four-year levy, from a planning perspective, it is impossible to accurately anticipate future revenues these projects will provide to offset their service impacts.”
Going out earlier for levy renewals will give city staff a six-month head start on strategic planning, Burford said. “Some of the problems we’re dealing with in order to strategically plan is what there are in revenues.”
Going out for the levy in May will require a majority of registered voters to turn out for the election and a majority of them to vote in favor of the levy. The November election does not require a majority turnout.
The Linn County Sheriff’s Office went out early for its levy four years ago, Burford said, and that levy was successful. He thinks Sweet Home could do it this year.
If the levy failed in May, the city could return to the ballot with a new levy measure in November and then again in May 2006 if necessary, Burford said.
Burford believes Sweet Home is unique in the state in that it is “100-percent levy funded,” he said. Other departments use local option levies to pay for new cars or specific programs. The exception in the last two years is that the Police Department has received transfers to cover revenue shortfalls. In Sweet Home, the general fund alone could not support the department, and the levy is the only way to keep the department running, Burford said.
General fund revenues are approximately $2 million per year, but that includes a carryover of some $600,000 to $700,000 along with approximately $200,000 in administrative charges to other city funds, leaving approximately $1.2 million in new revenues to the city’s general fund. The Police Department costs approximately $1.8 million to operate with a $200,000 carryover at the end of the year.
The council will consider a resolution for the May 16 election at its regular meeting on May 16.
“My recommendation to the council will be to ask for a rate-based levy,” Burford said. “That will allow the new projects to help pay for services they consume as they come onto the tax rolls.”
“To me it’s a little easier to tell the voters this is what we should be able to do in terms of services without having to worry about increased demand and not having funding to stay up with it,” Martin said.
Going out for a fixed amount, “we would probably have to ask for more than we really need in the early years in order to have adequate revenues to support the staff needed as the population grows,” Burford said. “That doesn’t seem an intelligent way to attack the problem. It’s been fine to go with a fixed amount during years when population growth has been relatively stagnant.”
A rate-based levy will allow revenue to match up with growth in the community, Burford said.