Coos County Watchdog


  • Home >>>
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Links
    • Whistle-Blower’s Page
  • Blog >>>
    • Info Blogs
  • Issues >>>
    • Johnson Creek Dam
    • Jury Nullification >
      • Jury Nullification on Facebook
    • More Choices in Bandon
    • NO Bandon Marsh Expansion >
      • Bandon Marsh Expansion on Facebook
    • Second Amendment Sanctuary Ordinance >
      • S.A.S.O on FB
    • State of Jefferson >
      • State of Jefferson on Facebook
    • The Coos County Charter
    • Urban Renewal Information

Support SB478

3/13/2013

Comments

 
Picture
March 4, 2013
 
Several years ago, it became painfully obvious that the City Council of Bandon was going on a political spending spree funded by public tax dollars.   They planned to expand the budget of the city’s Urban Renewal Agency (URA), which was going to increase the local debt, while draining necessary money from ten other overlapping taxing districts. 
 
As expected, Bandon, a city of 3300 residents, increased the maximum indebtedness of the URA area Plan #1 from $5 million to $12 million and extended it out to the year 2033.  This is just one of seven Urban Renewal districts in Coos County.   In Fiscal Year 2012, these agencies drained over $3 million dollars in property taxes, which is 5% of the total collected annually for the county.  That amount is increasing by 5.6% every year and that percentage is growing.  Currently, Multnomah County sacrifices 25% of every dollar collected in property taxes to Urban Renewal and much of that money goes into the pockets of very wealthy developers and private consultants.  
 
Last year the State of Oregon lost over $182 Million in taxes due to “tax increment financing,”  which is the process Urban Renewal Agencies use to skim money from schools,  colleges, hospitals, fire departments, law enforcement and many other taxing districts that provide the basic services on which people depend.  The state’s school districts suffer the largest loss of money, up to 45% of the funding comes from their coffers, and the state has to backfill that loss with the revenue provided by our income taxes.  The Oregon legislature has to approve the backfill program annually.  Then cities and counties use Urban Renewal funding to leverage grant money from state and federal government agencies.  Those grants also come from other sources of tax revenue paid for by us, the taxpayer.  It becomes apparent that the entire process is a pyramid scheme developed as a mechanism to provide sustainability to the corporate welfare system, with only a minimal input from citizens.  
 
Eventually this process will start to consume too much of our taxes and will leave many municipalities financially ravaged.  Cities and counties cannot go into bankruptcy according to OR law, so they use the debt from Urban Renewal to subsidize their budgets through varying infrastructure projects.  A city or county does not suffer damage to their credit rating if their Urban Renewal Agency goes belly-up, because under current law it is an independent entity legally separate from the city or county of origin.  
 
In February, Senator Jeff Kruse introduced Senate Bill 478, a measure that would take Urban Renewal out of the hands of greedy, misguided politicians and put those agencies under the control of the voter.  Senate Bill 478 will allow the voters of Oregon to decide the fate of these over-bloated, bungled bureaucracies.  The bill would allow the voter to decide on the creation of an URA plan, or an increase in the URA debt or any expansion of any existing URA areas.  
 
The people of Oregon have to support this bill by calling or emailing their Senator and demand that they vote in favor of the people by voting for SB 478.   Right now, the bill is in the Committee on Business and Transportation of the state senate.  The following Senators are on that committee and people can contact them via email. 
  
Sen. Beyer                   Sen.LeeBeyer@state.or.us

Sen. Starr                      Sean@BruceStarr.org

Sen. Edwards                Sen.ChrisEdwards@state.or.us

Sen. Girod                      Sen.FredGirod@state.or.us

Sen. Monroe                  MonroeR@leg.state.or.us

Sen. Thomsen               Sen.ChuckThomsen@state.or.us 
 
Please, send a message telling the Senators to support SB478 by sending this bill to the floor of the Senate for a full vote and passing it onto the House of Representatives.  Urban renewal matters should be under direct control of the voting public, as it is the public, and the public’s children, burdened with this very heavy public debt.

Related Posts:
NO on Measure 6-148 The Bandon Lighting Ordinance
City of Bandon---Outdoor Lighting Ordinance Measure 6-148
Bandon: The City of Ordinances
Keep the Lights ON in Bandon
Public Law 107-40
The National Defense Authorization Act of 2013
The National Fish & Wildlife Foundation
The US Forest Service Is Involved With Another Land Grab in Coos County 
My choices for the Ballot in the General Election of November 2012
The Voice of the Voters
The Administrator
Matt Rowe for Mayor Rally
“Coos County Today”
Silent victory over Urban Renewal in Coos County
There was an incident at the Fair.
The Realm of Business
A Meeting About Nothing....

Comments

    Categories

    All
    A.F.P.
    Agenda 21
    Bandon
    B.I.A.
    B.L.M.
    Coos Bay
    Coos County
    Coos County
    Coquille
    County Charter
    Curry County
    C.W.A.
    Democratic Party
    D.E.Q.
    Eco Devo
    Eco Devo
    Economic Development
    Educational
    Elections
    E.P.A.
    F.D.A.
    F.E.M.A.
    Individual Rights
    I Spy Radio
    Jury Nullification
    Legislation
    Letter To Editor
    Mary Geddry
    N.D.A.A.
    News Wave
    N.O.A.A.
    North Bend
    O&C Land
    O.D.F.W.
    O.D.O.T.
    O.F.F.
    O.H.A.
    O.P.R.D.
    O.R.C. Mining
    O.W.E.B.
    P.E.R.S.
    Petitions
    Port Of Coos Bay
    Public Comments
    Public Events
    Regulation
    Republican Party
    S.A.O.V.A.
    State Of Jefferson
    The Bandon Marsh
    The Economy
    The Rob Taylor Report
    The Supreme Court
    The Tea Party
    Urban Renewal
    U.S.A.C.E.
    U.S.D.A.
    U.S.F.S
    U.S.F.W.S.

    Sign-Up Now to Stay Informed

    * indicates required

    View previous campaigns.

    Send Letters to:
    ​cooscountywatchdog@gmail.com​

    Disclaimer: Letters to the Editor and other opinions published in The Coos County Watchdog blog are not necessarily the views of the Editor, Publisher, or possible anyone else in their right mind.  The Watchdog reserves the right to edit, omit, or copy any and all submissions. 
    Letters to the Editor must be attributed with a name, address, and contact phone number. 

    WARNING:
    Political correctness is not practiced on this
    page & some content is inappropriate

    RSS Feed


    Archives

    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo used under Creative Commons from DieselDemon