Shaney Starr teared up as she shared with her fellow Keizer city councilors a phone call with her mother.
She was addressing a plan before the Keizer City Council on Monday, Nov. 17, to increase the monthly fee on property owners to help pay police costs.
The council already once had put off a proposal to hike the monthly fee by 69 cents a month. The city projected that the increase would net $58,000 for policing services that this year are budgeted for $11.5 million.
Now, the council was considering whether to go ahead. The increase would come on top of an increase in fees charged for park services, a coming increase in garbage rates and an increase by the state in a payroll tax paid by employees in Keizer and elsewhere.
Starr is the council president and interim executive director of the Keizer Chamber of Commerce.
“I’ve had two really hard conversations with my mom in the last couple of weeks,” Starr said. “They weren’t phone calls meant to be hard for me to hear when she’s talking about the cost of food. She’s on a fixed income.”
One of those calls from her mother, who lives in Pendleton, came hours before Monday’s evening council session.
“Today it was about the changes she’s having to make to be able to feed her cat because the cost of everything is going up,” Starr said.
Starr said that got her thinking about the increases Keizer residents are seeing in fees and services.
“Everything is going up,” she said.
“We have within our control on the city council to help alleviate some of that burden on our residents,” Starr said.
In a later interview, Starr characterized the call with her mom as a “lightning bolt moment for me.”
She noted the long line of cars showing up at the Keizer Community Food Bank with people seeking help with food.
“We can’t keep making people pay more,” Starr said.
At the council meeting, Councilor Lore Christopher picked up on Starr’s theme.
“The people of Oregon are screaming at the top of their lungs,” said Christopher.
She said people are upset about continuing increases in government costs. She noted petitions circulating to refer to voters a state move to increase gas and payroll taxes and auto fees to raise money for transportation projects. She noted the plan by Cherriots to impose a new payroll tax.
“I hear them. I stand with them,” Christopher said. “You will never hear me vote for a discretionary tax that doesn’t come without a vote of the people.”
The city council has the legal authority to impose fee increases without a popular vote.
Assistant City Manager Tim Wood mapped out the city’s financial condition and the impact of the fee.
The police fee, initiated in 2017 at $4 per home, has increased to $6.90 since then. The city Budget Committee last spring approved increasing that to $7.59. The council deferred that proposal to November, waiting for better information on city revenue.
Wood presented a report showing the city expected to collect $43,812 more in property taxes than anticipated. He also reported that the police agency is expected to spend about $100,000 less than budgeted.
He noted that the city is using about $2 million in reserves to cover costs in the current budget. Such reserves are like a savings account. Wood said the city faces challenging times ahead as the reserves dwindle.
Councilors pressed Wood and City Manager Adam Brown for how to cover from another source the money expected from the increased police fee. Brown said the city would dip into its contingency as needed.
Councilors voted to postpone acting on the fee increase until next March. Starr, Christopher and Councilors Dan Kohler, Soraida Cross and Kyle Juran and Mayor Cathy Clark backed the move. Councilor Marlene Parsons voted against the delay but didn’t explain her reason.
CONTACT EDITOR LES ZAITZ: [email protected].
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