County law enforcement
hangs on voter tax levy
By Sieve Hooks
Oim* EmmwU
County officials painted a
dark scenario of the effects of a
reduced county law
enforcement budget to the Lane
County Bar Association at
Tuesday's meeting
To head off the county 's bud
get shortfall and consequential
cuts in services, the county is
asking voter approval of a $10
million tax-base increase in the
May 18 primary election.
By state law, the county's
tax-base may not increase by
more than 6 percent without
voter consent. If voters approve
the ballot measure, the county
can collect $14.2 million in
homeowners' property taxes
next year That compares with
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$4.2 million collected this year,
according to county figures.
Mike Williams, county budget
committee vice-chairman, told
the lunching lawyers that if
voters do not approve the in
crease, “Lane County faces a
financial disaster of the first
order of magnitude ”
Williams and other county of
ficials are part of a task force.
Advocates For Lane County,
formed to drum up support for
the coming ballot measure vote
He and three county law enfor
cement officials painted a
"worse case" scenario of the
budget cuts' effects on the legal
system
Sheriff David Burks said the
county public safety department
would lose 49 police officers
His patrol division, already un
derstaffed. would be reduced to
seven officers next year from its
current 26, he said The depart
ment consisted of 54 patrol of
ficers only two years ago
Burks said the department is
“fast losing ability to respond"
to calls. For example. Lane
County parks could deteriorate
due to crimes like vandalism
because his department
wouldn't be able to patrol them
as often, he said
Burks also said his staff of
investigators would decline to
three He employed 16 inves
tigators two years ago
District Attorney Pat Horton
and Court Administrator William
Linden described how over
crowded and understaffed
courts would add problems to
an already inadequate law en
forcement division.
Horton said the prosecutor's
office faces a possible loss of 16
attorneys and a 65 percent
reduction of its paralegal staff.
He added that the district court
already handles "volumes'' of
cases
Linden said the possible 45
percent cut in the county court
operating budget would cut the
administrative staff in half
"The judges would be ready
to go to trial, the attorneys
would be ready to go to trial,”
but no courtroom staff would be
available for a trial in some
cases, he said
If the tax base fails at the May
primary, the county would ask
voters to approve $3 million on
an "A" ballot in June Any other
levy, termed a "B" ballot, would
not receive the property tax
relief from the state that the May
ballot would get County budget
officials said the ”B" ballot
would be almost impossible to
pass, based on historical
trends
The failurfe of the tax initative
would reduce Lane County
government to a level of service
reminiscent of the depression
years, according to a handout at
the meeting
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