Student voters will have a chance to decide Nov. 5 whether to support as much as an $88 million increase in Lane County’s property tax.
Six county ballot measures are up in the air in November. They would fund building improvements or new construction for the county courthouse and jail, a new planetarium, a public health building and public parks, and update communication systems for emergency vehicles.
Although most students don’t own homes and therefore wouldn’t pay the potential property tax increase if the measures passed, Lane County spokeswoman Melinda Kletzok said students should take an interest in county measures because of the services county government provides.
“Students should always be informed about anything related to government,” she said. “It’s important that students are aware of current trends.”
Measure 20-59 would raise $10.7 million to pay for Lane County jail improvements. The addition would allow the county to add 65 beds to the jail intake center, which processes recently arrested inmates and evaluates their medical conditions.
Lane County Sheriff Jan Clements said although the effort to levy money for an intake center has failed multiple times in past election years, students should vote yes because the improvements are needed to serve Lane County.
But Ron Chase, the director of the halfway house for inmates from the Lane County jail, said he didn’t think the measure was likely to succeed.
“The problem I see with it is they don’t have any money to operate the intake center,” he said. “The county is operating at a $1.2 million deficit, anyway.”
Another measure related to law enforcement is Measure 20-60, which would issue as much as $10.35 million in county bonds to pay for a new microwave radio communications system.
Clements added the potential for a new system should interest students.
“If you have students traveling from here to the coast, or up to the ski areas, there’s places right now where there’s no communication — and that’s jeopardizing public safety,” he said. “This (current system is) 60s technology that was installed in the 70s.”
Another county issue is Measure 20-61, which would use up to $6.375 million to improve disability access at the Lane County Courthouse. The money would help renovate the Wayne Morse free speech area of the building and provide a public service counter for people with questions about the sheriff’s office.
Measure 20-62 would improve county parks by spending up to $20.7 million in taxpayer bonds. The money would be used to build new parks and improve existing ones, including Armitage and Hendricks parks.
Measure 20-63 would construct a Lane County Public Health Building using $30 million in bonds. The building, which would replace parts of the County Annex constructed 50 years ago, would provide for better public health services, including services such as pregnancy prevention, alcohol and drug offender treatment, and better policing of Lane County restaurants for health inspections.
Finally, Measure 20-65 would spend $10 million in taxpayer bonds to build a new planetarium, which would provide astronomy education to students of all ages and the community at large. The project would replace the existing planetarium located next to Autzen Stadium with a new, state-of-the-art facility at the Lane County Fairgrounds.