Letter to the Editor
Residents of Coos Bay, have just had another sewer rate increase, 6.5 percent. And now before the City Council, two more opportunities for them to get into your pockets to fund another avoided project, streets. Council meeting July 7, 2015.
Two items, PacificCorp Franchise fee, direct pass through to Citizens electric bills, and a gas tax, where the State gets a 10 percent cut, the rest to the city. Gas tax, at the pump will have to be voted upon in an election.
The human experience, wired for short term fix. First choice, see the effect, fix it. The underlying cause, avoid for 20 or more years. Coos Bay streets, never enough tax dollars to maintain. The three percent property tax increase yearly, that limits governments growth. They have to live within their means by supplementing with fees, and taxes.
What percentage of these collected funds will be dedicated for the streets, and what percentage will syphon off to city staff for services surrounding street projects? What is the bang for the buck, in this short term fix?
Council created Streets Task Force, and approved updating Street Condition Survey, resulting in a plan. Solution, tax and fee the Citizens to implement. What about other solutions?
The popular solutions already described, but the unpopular ones, lets explore. First, close the Urban Renewal, UR, Districts, make then go away. The percentage of tax revenue, about 30 percent of the UR current property tax dollars, will be new dollars to the General fund. Second, let the number of employees decrease, through attrition, without new hires. Third, stop, or reduce the cost for consultants. Fourth, eliminated open ended contracts where staff has a retainer with contractors for repeated or continued projects up to $24,999.00 without Council further approval.
Fifth, direct South Coast Community Foundation dollars toward community infrastructure.
These solutions will make current and future property tax dollars available to start being used to maintain the streets. The Council then will have more options and solutions on the table, instead of just signing checks, and approving laws taxing it's Citizens.
Denny Powell
Residents of Coos Bay, have just had another sewer rate increase, 6.5 percent. And now before the City Council, two more opportunities for them to get into your pockets to fund another avoided project, streets. Council meeting July 7, 2015.
Two items, PacificCorp Franchise fee, direct pass through to Citizens electric bills, and a gas tax, where the State gets a 10 percent cut, the rest to the city. Gas tax, at the pump will have to be voted upon in an election.
The human experience, wired for short term fix. First choice, see the effect, fix it. The underlying cause, avoid for 20 or more years. Coos Bay streets, never enough tax dollars to maintain. The three percent property tax increase yearly, that limits governments growth. They have to live within their means by supplementing with fees, and taxes.
What percentage of these collected funds will be dedicated for the streets, and what percentage will syphon off to city staff for services surrounding street projects? What is the bang for the buck, in this short term fix?
Council created Streets Task Force, and approved updating Street Condition Survey, resulting in a plan. Solution, tax and fee the Citizens to implement. What about other solutions?
The popular solutions already described, but the unpopular ones, lets explore. First, close the Urban Renewal, UR, Districts, make then go away. The percentage of tax revenue, about 30 percent of the UR current property tax dollars, will be new dollars to the General fund. Second, let the number of employees decrease, through attrition, without new hires. Third, stop, or reduce the cost for consultants. Fourth, eliminated open ended contracts where staff has a retainer with contractors for repeated or continued projects up to $24,999.00 without Council further approval.
Fifth, direct South Coast Community Foundation dollars toward community infrastructure.
These solutions will make current and future property tax dollars available to start being used to maintain the streets. The Council then will have more options and solutions on the table, instead of just signing checks, and approving laws taxing it's Citizens.
Denny Powell
Video of Public Meeting with testimony:
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