There’s no doubt that Lane County’s budget crisis is downright scary.
The bleak outlook includes four hours of anarchy outside of city limits each day because sheriff’s officers will only be working 20 hours per day. There will be rapists and murders released from prison, no prosecution of drug possession or property theft cases, no rescue for lost hikers and no supervision for domestic violence offenders.
But why is one of Oregon’s most populated counties falling apart at the seams?
The county is $47 million poorer this year after the federal government failed to renew a decades-old pact of compensating rural counties that house federal land. More than 50 percent of Lane County is owned by the federal government.
The county is also in a so-called structural deficit because expenditures are increasing by 6 percent annually while revenue is only increasing by 3 percent.
The blame game, however, is coming from all directions, and no one is free from a finger wagging in their face.
“It’s gotten really disheartening and disgusting because no one wants to take responsibility,” local resident Mike Larrabier said at Tuesday’s budget meeting.
Residents say county officials have known for several years that the federal government would stop the rural county payments, and commissioners should have been prepared. Commissioners blame the federal government for not looking out for domestic needs and say voters won’t stand for another tax measure on the ballot. The federal government wants the county to wean itself off of its federal allowances.
An old adage says that if you can’t fix the problem, then you shouldn’t complain about it.
So how can county officials and residents fix the budget crisis?
Commissioners and residents continually cite three possible options to fix the budget: a new tax, help from city and state governments or cutting fat from the current budget.
Some residents feel like county officials are dangling frightening public safety scenarios in front of them like a carrot in front of a horse, leading voters to an oasis of new taxes.
Four of the five county commissioners have said there is absolutely no way they would propose a new tax. The county has tried 13 times to pass some type of tax during the last two decades – 13 times the voters said no.
“We have a batting record of 0 for 13. Do I want to go 0 for 14? I don’t think so,” Commissioner Bill Fleenor said.
The last tax measure to be defeated, in 2007, voters convincingly rejected by a vote of 71 percent to 29 percent.
“To say the public was angry is an understatement. We govern only with the consent of the people,” Commissioner Peter Sorenson, who opposed the tax, said in an e-mail.
Commissioner Bill Dwyer said he would favor a serial levy that would only go to fund public safety.
However, a number of commissioners have said that if residents started a grassroots-style campaign for a new tax, they would most likely support it.
While the tax solution looks about as bleak as the budget, one area of almost certain help is coming from city and state governments.
The city of Eugene has been working to provide the county’s general fund, where public safety money comes from, with $4.5 million during the next two years. In return, the county would give the city $4.5 million in money, which has to be dedicated to fixing roads.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski has formed a task force that is trying to determine how counties can generate money though state processes, such as legislative bills or property tax reforms.
Commissioner Bobby Green was appointed as co-chair to the task force and admitted that the attempts are noble, but ultimately inadequate when trying to make up for the loss of $47 million.
“The only folks who can bail us out are in Washington, D.C., where they print the money,” Green said.
Some citizens believe that no matter how much money comes or where it comes from, commissioners just don’t know how to properly spend it.
They have accused county commissioners of paying for too many wants when the needs aren’t being addressed first – like a house with flat screen televisions and fancy sofas, but no windows or doors to protect ourselves, local resident Quinn Strahon said at the Thursday budget meeting.
County budgeting officials have repeatedly said there is no significant fat to trim off of the budget.
The county has to adopt its new budget by July 1, and is planning to approve a budget at its next meeting on May 22.
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