Lane County and Eugene taxpayers currently pay more than $90 million a year to fund public safety programs. Taxpayers are being asked, again, for more than $150 million to fund two county ballot measures (20-38 and 20-39) and a Eugene ballot measure (20-36) for public safety. Last November, nearly 75 percent of voters made their views clear by rejecting a $150 million public safety tax increase.
Just last May, Eugene voters turned down another proposal to build a three-story police complex. Most voters feel overtaxed. Property tax bills, now coming due, will underscore these concerns. But city bureaucrats have rushed back to voters with yet another tax increase proposal.
The tens of millions of dollars requested for more government buildings could be spent improving our decaying schools. The proposed new police station is extravagant and wasteful. Particularly troubling is the fact that $22 million of Measure 20-36’s $47.5 million is paid to lending institutions for interest — not for actual building construction.
City Hall could be upgraded for a fraction of the $47.5 million that the city is requesting. One city-commissioned architectural study reported that City Hall could be earthquake-braced for $500,000. A later memo from WBGS Architects estimated the cost of a seismic upgrade at $2.5 million to $4.3 million, much less than required by Measure 20-36.
Lane County voters want prevention, not more jails. A county survey last year found that 67 percent of voters favor crime prevention, rather than arrests and incarceration, as a more affordable method for improving public safety. Only 17 percent favored increased emphasis on punishment.
Also contrary to a Lane County survey of voters, effective drug rehabilitation programs are being underfunded or cut completely. Recently, the successful drug rehab program, Passages, was completely cut from the county budget. Instead, county officials approved more money for the Forest Work Camp. Enough is enough.
Crime rates are going down for both adults and juveniles. Additional tax increases for police and jails are not warranted. Proven methods, focusing on crime prevention and social support services, will be short-changed by Measures 20-36, 20-38 and 20-39.
Vote “No!” on Measures 20-36, 20-38 and 20-39.
Carol Berg and Gary Kutcher are co-chairs of the Enough is Enough Committee, a citizen group addressing concerns about unfair taxes, public accountability and local government.
Commentary by John Brown
When any organization needs significantly more space, a new building is usually the most economical choice. Organizations as diverse as Symantec, The Register-Guard and the First Baptist Church have all come to that conclusion. Remodeling their existing buildings proved more expensive than new construction. No one should be surprised that building a new police station is the most economical choice for Eugene taxpayers.
The police long ago outgrew the existing police station. It was built nearly 40 years ago, when Eugene was just a little larger than Springfield. As the city has grown, additional staff have been stuffed into every available space. Today, nearly twice as much space is needed for the existing police staff to operate efficiently.
But there is an additional problem that makes it not economical to remodel City Hall: It is a very weak building that will not withstand even a moderate earthquake. Neither City Hall nor any other building downtown meets the stringent earthquake standards required for a public safety building. As a result, remodeling any existing building for police will be prohibitively expensive — $19.6 to 21.3 million for City Hall. Expanding City Hall to get the space necessary for police would cost even more millions. The engineering firm WBGS concluded that a major expansion of City Hall is so impractical that it wasn’t even worth an engineer’s time to develop a cost estimate.
The average homeowner will pay about $45 per year for the new police station, as well as to purchase land for a new fire station. The police station will be built on a site owned by the city on 8th Avenue between High and Pearl. Long-term operational costs will be lower because police will remain close to the courts, where officers must frequently go.
The cynics among us can always find a dark cloud inside every silver lining. They propose a wide range of theories about why the city wants to build a new police station. They’re all wrong. The citizen committee and council decisions that lead to Measure 20-36 are based on simple building economics and the need for police to be located near the other justice agencies they work with every day. Measure 20-36 is essential for Eugene’s future. Please vote yes for 20-36.
John Brown is chair of the campaign in support of Ballot Measure 20-36.