Hello Everyone,

The Coos County TEA Party is having a Meet & Greet with Dave Hunnicutt on January 23rd, 2012 at noon in the North Bend Library.

Mr. Hunnicutt is from Oregonians in Action and will be speaking to us about a new initiative that we are going to be sponsoring here in Coos County.

This measure will help taxpayers control the growth of Urban Renewal in the county.  If you are interested please attend, everyone is invited.

Here is the tentative wording of the bill FYI….

 

SUMMARY: This measure amends the County Code to require voter approval to create an urban renewal agency. The measure also requires voter approval when an urban renewal agency seeks to authorize the exercise of additional powers. The measure amends the County Code to require voter approval to establish a new urban renewal plan or to substantially change an existing plan. The County is required to provide public notice when an election will authorize new Urban Renewal Indebtedness. Any approval or amendment to an urban renewal plan by the county must be done by ordinance. The retirement of all previously authorized urban renewal indebtedness will result in the termination of the urban renewal agency. Any continuing obligations or rights of the terminated agency will be assumed by the county. If passed, this chapter will be immediately effective.

Rob Taylor

obetewic@msn.com

541-347-9942   

We are hosting a "Meet and Greet" at the Kozy Kitchen in Florence on Wednesday, November 30th, from 6:30-8:00 pm. The restaurant is located on the SW corner or Hwy 101 and Hwy 126. The address is 820 Hwy 101, Florence.

We are local PCPs and Pam serves as an Alternate Delegate on the Executive Board of the Lane County Republican Committee. The Board President, Loren Later, will be speaking to the group, We are working diligently to get Republicans and Conservatives active politically in preparation for the 2012 election.

Contact
Name
Dean and Pam Hamill

Email
pamhamill@yahoo.com

Hi:
Some key points were made at our last Conference Call:

1. Oregon Citizen Lobby Training (War Room) on November 29th @ 7pm.

a. Webinar training on legislative bill reading. If interested in participating you must sign-up with Wayne Brady at wbrady@acm.org.

b. There will likely be a second webinar training in January and don’t forget to attend the February 1st activities in Salem on the first day of the OR Legislature.

c. The official name of the group is Oregon Citizen Lobby.





Below is a letter from Wayne Brady regarding the Oregon Citizen Lobby Training to take place starting Nov. 29th.

Dear Oregon American For Prosperity Leaders,



I am looking for some help in making sure the conservative viewpoint is heard during the 2012 Legislative Session.



There are lots of opportunities to help stop bad legislation and help pass good legislation during the next Oregon Legislative Session. It doesn’t matter where you live in Oregon, you can help.



First, let me give you a little history. During the 2011 Legislative Session, Tom Stutzman of 912 Project Salem, sent emails out every Sunday with the committee agendas and analyses of important bills being heard by the committees for the upcoming week. These emails went to several thousand recipients including many tea party groups, Republican Central Committee members, and some of the legislative staff at the Capitol. The information from the emails was also posted on OregonCatalyst.com. The information in these emails allowed volunteers to testify at hearings, email, call, or visit their legislator with good information on the bills.



During the last 11 days of the Legislative Session, Jeff Kropf, Oregon State Director of Americans for Prosperity organized a War Room at the Capitol. We were in Room 350 in the middle of the Capitol. Jeff provided good information about how to lobby, where to get information, and a lot more. We analyzed bills, wrote up talking points, and in some cases printed flyers in support or opposition to certain bills. We visited legislators and their staff to either get some background on the bills or to voice our support or opposition to bills. We also attended hearings and works sessions. We got a lot of attention. Jeff provided us with buttons to wear so that people would know that we were part of the War Room.



We also did some brainstorming during the War Room and developed a grassroots plan for the 2012 Session. It is this plan I want to describe to you. The 2012 Session grassroots effort described below will be supported by Americans for Prosperity Oregon, now led by Karla Kay Edwards. Jeff Kropf will still be one of the leaders. Tom Stutzman and a number of other volunteers from the 2011 War Room will again be involved in this effort.



The job of reading and analyzing bills is too much for one person. We are in the process of recruiting volunteers to help us with that task. This is something you can do whether you live near the Capitol or you live hundreds of miles away. We are setting up 9 teams. Each team covers a specific set of topics such as land use, health care, or public safety (See the attached file). We will provide volunteers with instruction on how to read the bills, templates for their analysis, and a web site to which they can post their analyses.



Our web site will have a wealth of information and will be updated on an hourly basis. It will be a great resource for conservatives around the state.



There will, again be emails sent out that contain the committee agendas and the bill analyses.



The Legislature will meet three times before the 2012 Legislative Session. These are called interim sessions and each lasts for 3 days.



We will be looking for volunteers to attend and report on the committee work sessions that are held on September 21-23, November 16-18, and January 18-20. We should be able to learn a lot about what will be happening during the 2012 Legislative Session by attending these Interim Sessions. We will provide templates and instructions for reporting on these work sessions.



The 2012 Legislative Session begins on February 1 and ends on March 6.



The War Room will start early in the 2012 Session and we will need volunteers to help out. The War Room stays open most of the day. Individual volunteers do not have to stay for the whole time. We will have people coming in at different hours according to their schedule.



We will need volunteers to attend Committee hearings during the 2112 Legislative Session. Here again, instruction will be provided.



We are also encouraging visits to your legislator either at the Capitol or at the district office.



We will also need behind the scenes help to make this whole thing work. We will have to assign bills to the correct teams, help to assemble the emails, communicate with the volunteers, and much more.



This is a big job. The revenue forecasts are dropping. The reserve that Representative Richardson worked so hard to create could be swallowed up. There will be a lot of pressure to raise taxes, shorten sentences for criminals, and many other unpleasant things. We have to stop the bad stuff and try to get some of our good bills through.



There are a lot of opportunities to help. Please contact me if you have an interest in helping out or if you simply want to find out more about what we are doing.



I can be reached at (503) 585-6116 (Home), (503) 949-5430(Mobile), or by email at wbrady@acm.org. I look forward to hearing from you.





Wayne Brady



"I suppose, indeed, that in public life, a man whose political principles have any decided character and who has energy enough to give them effect must always expect to encounter political hostility from those of adverse principles." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to Richard M. Johnson, 1808







Regards,




Rick Hoffine

AFP--Coos Co. Chapter

The fight over wasting more of our tax dollars on government redevelopment has culminated into a highly anticipated final debate in Coquille.  The Coos County Board of Commissioners will be the one to have to decide the fate of Bandon’s Urban Renewal Agency.

 

The city wants to increase its “maximum indebtedness” from $5 million to $12 million and extend that debt all the way out to 2033.  A debt of this magnitude will cause serious erosion in the funding of the county’s basic amenities, and the effect of this drainage will cause several other overlapping taxing districts to either raise taxes, or cut basic services.  

The city needs the commissioner’s approval, because the city’s urban renewal agency siphons money from the tax dollars collected for the county.  This decision will happen at the next regularly scheduled Coos County Board of Commissioners Meeting, Tuesday, November 22nd, at 9:30 a.m. in the County Court House.  If you were still on the fence about this issue, then this is the meeting to attend.  And if it is not informative---then, at the very least, it should be entertaining.

I will be presenting the argument against Urban Renewal and this particular increase.  The Bandon City Manager will be arguing in favor of continuing to increase the urban renewal debt and the passage of the Bandon Resolution.  

Hey Everyone, 

The Coos County Library Board is considering tabling the Bandon Resolution until the County Commission makes its decision. The city has not approached the board, but they will be soon and we will be there when they do.  

Also, I want to extend a big THANK YOU, to all the people who showed up for this meeting. It is that type of support that makes all the difference.  One very nice lady showed up in her cranberry farm’s dump truck.  Now that is dedication…

Sincerely, Rob Taylor

This is bad legislation and you should contact your Representatives and tell them to vote no on this act.  If this bill passes into law, more money will be designated for Urban Redevelopment projects.  



H.R. 2112: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations...

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-2112

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Urgent:  Important Meeting 

THE COOS COUNTY LIBRARY BOARD MEETING IN THE BANDON LIBRARY

Thursday, tomorrow, November 3rd, 2011 at 4:30 pm in the Bandon Library the Coos County Library Board will decide on the Bandon Resolution to increase the “maximum indebtedness” of the Bandon Urban Renewal Agency in Area #1.  I will be presenting the counter argument to this issue.   The City is sure to have a lot of their supporters at this meeting, so your support would be greatly appreciated, and I could use the back-up.

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THE TEA PARTYER

October 21, 2011

It has always been  humbling to experience the generosity, folksy friendliness, and plain old hard work that resides at the core of rural Oregon, but I’m a little disturbed by the people living in the cities who are taking advantage of their country neighbor’s hospitality. 

There are 78 taxing districts in Coos County with 7 of those districts being Urban Renewal Districts.  In the FYE 2010-2011 those 7 Urban Renewal Districts drained over 3 million dollars from the property taxes collected by the county to fund all the other taxing districts.  That amounts to 5% of all the property taxes collected.    That money was intended for the nuts and bolts of basic county services, but instead it will be used for “designer” projects

The Urban Renewal districts are located in the cities and cover redevelopment and beautification projects in the most densely populated areas.    The money that is skimmed by Urban Renewal from the other taxing districts should not be pilfered, but instead,  should stay in those districts to continue to provide for the most basic countywide services.  Any incursion into our property tax money, in this day and age of insolvency and bankruptcy, is now harmful.

There are several countywide taxing districts that suffer more than the other taxing districts through the loss of funding to Urban Renewal.  Everyone in Coos County, who pays property taxes, is paying for the 7 Urban Renewal taxing districts.  Those local bureaucracies do absolutely nothing to benefit the people or businesses existing outside the Urban Renewal taxing area.  In fact, there are many unintended consequences caused by the redevelopment projects undertaken by these agencies that do additional economic harm to businesses and people in the outlying areas of the county.

The taxing districts that suffer the most are: The County; 4H/Extension Services; Coos County-Library Services; Coos County Airport; Southwestern College; and South Coast Educational Service District.  Every citizen in the county uses one of the basic services provided by these taxing districts and every year those districts lose another 5.6% to Urban Renewal, and that percentage is increasing.   To make up for this loss the county will eventually have to raise taxes or cut basic services.     

The county is its own taxing district.  That district provides for emergency management, the sheriff’s office, the county courthouse, the jail, juvenile detention, the District Attorney, animal control and elections, just to name a few.  The next time you or your child have an emergency, I guess you can call the Bandon Urban Renewal Board and see if they can come and help.  They should, since the City of Bandon took $45,196 from those basic services last year alone.  The 7 Urban Renewal areas combined took a total of $206,419 away from the County Taxing District FYE 2010-2011. 

The 4H Extension Services is another countywide taxing district.  The city folks are taking away money from kids with bunnies, so they can build bike paths, boardwalks, pedestrian walkways, museums, theaters, skateboard parks, swimming pools, and eco-tourism centers.  The cities are under the delusion that this will somehow broaden their tax base.  Supposedly, this will benefit everyone in the county.  Well, when we are out of farmers and ranchers, maybe Bandon will build a barn.  Last year, the Bandon Urban Renewal agency siphoned away $3,679 from the 4H District.  In total, 4H lost a whopping $16,587 to the Urban Renewal districts---all for the pleasure of the cities. 

If you like to read and cannot find a specific book at your local library, then call the City of Bandon and ask them to borrow their copy.  They should have a couple since the city took over $30,000 from the county library system last year.  The Library Taxing District lost a total of $138,827 to all the Urban Renewal districts combined with little to nothing to show for our expense.  Imagine the educational projects the libraries could have done if the funding had been there.

Bandon is no better or worse than any other city with an Urban Renewal Agency.  The City of Bandon was just lucky enough to get in on this Pyramid Scheme at the very top level and now the city reaps the “rewards,” which makes it the perfect example to demonstrate the flaws of Urban Renewal and the greedy process of Tax Increment Financing.

The Bandon Urban Renewal Agency siphoned 385,532 from 10 other overlapping taxing districts and that includes the six most utilized taxing districts.  Bandon has a population of 3,300 people, which would work out to about $117 per person.  In contrast, Coos Bay’s Urban Renewal Agency siphoned $1,478,032 from other districts, which works out to about $96 per their 15,374 residents.  Those are the highest yielding agencies, and as anyone can see, the citizens of Bandon are making bank, while the other taxing districts pay the price.

These taxing agencies have been around in Coos County since early 1990.   In the last two decades they have stolen millions of tax dollars intended for necessary amenities and districts have to replace that money with tax hikes.    Plus, maintaining redevelopment projects has to come from other sources besides Urban Renewal.  These new facilities and redevelopment projects put an extra strain on the county’s financial system. 

The Bandon Urban Renewal Area #1 is about to double its “maximum indebtedness” up to 12 million dollars and extend the debt all the way out to 2033, but there is still time to stop this process.  There is a new website dedicated to ending or restricting the use of Urban Renewal in Coos County and anyone can sign up for their newsletter.  Go to www.cooscountywatchdog.com to find out about scheduled events or to get more information.  

And, if you want to tell the Bandon City Council what you think of their plans for the Urban Renewal Agency, then attend the Bandon City Council meeting in City Hall at 7:00 pm, Monday, on November 7th.  Several of us concerned citizens are planning on attending this public meeting for the purpose of airing our grievances during the public comment section and it would be nice to have a supportive flotilla of even more concerned citizens from all over Coos County.  

“Rob Taylor was the original organizer of the TEA Parties in Coos County and is currently an independent activist working to promote the rights of the individual.”