Keeping the city’s police force intact has motivated Keizer city councilors to back one of the largest fee increases in recent times.

The councilors plan to impose a two-step hike in the fee charged to homeowners and businesses, with the first one taking hold Sept. 1.

The move would bring an extra $2.5 million into the city treasury – and save an estimated 10 city jobs, including at the Keizer Police Department.

But recognizing political realities, some councilors want to get the community’s advice about the plan.

That could mean a vote in the general election in November.

What that vote means isn’t clear. The Keizer City Council has the full authority to do as it plans – to raise the police fee along with several other fees. No citizen vote is required.

And the councilors would have no legal obligation to heed the results of a November vote. A measure on whether voters approve the fee would be advisory only, according to city officials.

The community has a chance on Monday, June 1, to voice its opinion before the city’s $66 million budget is a done deal and the fees advance.

Public hearing set for June 1

The city council has scheduled a public hearing for that evening, allowing citizens to submit written opinions or address the mayor and councilors in person.

Results from the May 19 election around the state produced mixed results for local police.

In Port Orford, voters approved an increase in property taxes to replace a $12 monthly public safety fee.

But Sutherlin voters repealed a local police fee, and voters in the coastal city of North Bend voted down a $5-a-month increase in their public safety fee. Clackamas County voters voted 62% to 38% against increasing property taxes to sustain their sheriff’s office.

In Keizer, the city last took a fee increase to voters in 2022, when a $2.50 monthly assessment was proposed to fund the community library. Keizer voters rejected the fee 8,762-7,237.

Keizer’s crossroads comes as the city officials say they have run out of options to keep services going with only the money they now get. 

They have resorted to the equivalent of budget plate-spinning to sustain city operations, using federal money in recent years to patch some budget holes and dipping into city reserves to fill others.

City Manager Adam Brown explained in his budget message: “As we have spent down our fund balance to minimal levels, the day we knew was inevitable is finally upon us. This is the year of reckoning.”

Keizer’s leaders are focused on police services. Councilors say public safety is a priority among their Keizer constituents.

The case to preserve police services emerged over months. A city task force dug into police operations, examining budgets, crime statistics and endless numbers comparing Keizer to other cities. The task force concluded and the full council agreed that the Keizer Police Department is right sized for the community with a staff of 50 officers and administrative employees.

That conclusion came as city executives calculated that the city budget would be short about $2 million to cover all costs going into the new year. The budget year starts July 1.

The city Budget Committee – the full city council plus seven citizens – endorsed a plan to get more money from the community by increasing existing fees.

The city council then adopted its two-step plan to do so.

For homeowners, the monthly cost for the police fee would double in the coming months. The fee would go from the current $6.90 a month to $10.62 starting Sept. 1 and go up again on Jan. 1 to hit a total of $14.34.

Business properties would see dramatic increases. Since the fee was established in 2017, businesses paid the same flat fee as a homeowner, no matter how big the business or how much police business they generated.

That would change this fall. Businesses instead would be charged based essentially on their size. That could mean a fee of hundreds and in some cases thousands of dollars a month instead of $6.90.

Councilors have indicated they want to work on that business formula, possibly giving the smallest businesses a break and otherwise arranging discounts.

While the need for money seems clear, what councilors would ask at the ballot box in November isn’t.

The general idea would be to ask voters if they approve of the fee increase. Such a vote would come after part of the increase has already taken hold – if councilors stick with their decision earlier this month.

That puts some councilors in conflict with their own past declarations. Some have said publicly they would not impose increases without a vote of Keizerites.

Councilor Soraida Cross has been one who has been insistent that those who would have to pay any increase should get a say.

Cross said in an interview she “begrudgingly” voted in favor of the city’s new budget and fee increases because she wanted to respect the work of the task force.

“I thought that should be honored,” she said.

She still wants voters to have a say, and a vote against a police fee increase should mean the council goes back to work on the budget. She would consider cuts in other city services to maintain policing.

Cross said she senses the community does support the local police force.

Still, she said, “the community likes to be part of the decision-making process.”

Last fall, Councilor Lore Christopher, a former mayor, noted the burden of taxes and rising costs on constituents.

“I hear them. I stand with them,” she said. “You will never hear me vote for a discretionary tax that doesn’t come with a vote of the people.”

Christopher in a recent email to Keizertimes justified her recent vote to increase police fees.

“I do not consider the cost for police services discretionary,” she said. “The increase was necessary simply to maintain our current level of service.”

 And Councilor Shaney Starr, the council president, made a tearful statement at a meeting last fall, acknowledging the financial struggles of constituents.

“We can’t keep making people pay more,” Starr said at the time.

She has changed her mind.

“We didn’t have a full fiscal picture six months ago,” she said in an email. “Two things are true at the same time – budgets are tight and a safe Keizer is important to our community.”

Councilors generally avoided addressing what they would do if voters in a November vote oppose a police fee increase.

Christopher said it was “unknown” whether she would want the city to reverse a higher fee imposed before such a vote.

She also demurred on whether the city should cancel the planned January increase in the face of community opposition.

“I would expect additional conversation and deliberations with our community,” Christopher said.

Starr said she supported a public vote – but not on whether to increase the police fee.

“My intent of the vote is to seek voter input on the structure of the fee,” she said.

Starr didn’t address questions about whether the city should revoke the fee increases if voters oppose them.

Starr, who chaired the police task force, said the new structure for police fees, including increasing the share paid by businesses, “is an attempt to balance how we are receiving the revenue in order to ensure we maintain a fully staffed police force.”

Councilor Dan Kohler, who also served on the task force, said the city faces losing 10 police officers if the police fee isn’t increased.

City officials have said up to 10 jobs would be lost but not all in the police force.

Kohler said he supported the September fee increase as a necessary “bridge” to keep the police force intact.

“We can take that back anytime,” he said.

He said a November vote would be a chance for Keizerites to learn what’s at stake.

“An advisory vote would tell us what people want to do,” he said. “If they opposed the fee, we would have some tough decisions.”

Councilor Marlene Parsons said “I can’t answer” whether the community would be asked to vote. She also declined to answer what she would do if voters oppose the fee.

“Will we do as the people vote?” she wrote. “That is a question I also have.”

Councilor Kyle Juran didn’t respond to written questions or telephone messages from Keizertimes.

Mayor Cathy Clark was the lone vote on May 18 on a council directive to staff that set the city on a path to a public vote.

She noted that Keizer voters six years ago approved a city charter that gave the Keizer City Council the authority to set city fees.

“A vague ‘advisory vote’ that does not ask a clear and direct tax or regulation question with a clear outcome makes me wonder what the purpose is,” she said in an email.

She noted that Keizer residents could on their own refer the police fee increase to the ballot.

“If the city council puts a ballot measure out on the police fee, it would have to be honest and have the option to abide by the will of the voters” and “cut police services” in the face of a no vote, she said.

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