SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 37, NO. 45
SECTION A
OCTOBER 9, 2015
$1.00
Transit payroll tax gets debated
Library
book sale
PAGE A3
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Christine Dieker (left) and Robert Krebs (right) speak during a community conversation about a proposed transit payroll tax on
Sept. 30.
an explanation of that loop-
hole was explained during the
conversation.
Bob Zielinski, president of
the Keizer Chamber of Com-
merce, made his position clear
early.
“Another tax is too much
to ask for,” Zielinski said.
“That’s our position.”
Nick Williams from the Sa-
lem Area Chamber of Com-
merce noted transit districts
in Oregon have a “weird”
budget. He noted his chamber
leaders started a conversation
with transit leaders in Janu-
ary, when both a payroll tax
and property tax were being
Art Burr dead at 86
1928 - 2015
Photo courtesy Phyllis Burr
Art Burr, a longtime Keizer volunteer shown on his boat on an
old fi shing trip, passed away Oct. 1 at the age of 86.
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Art Burr had everything
lined up and organized.
Burr, 86, a longtime Keizer
resident who volunteered for
a number of organizations and
groups over the years, passed
away in the early morning
hours Oct. 1.
For years Burr and wife
Phyllis delivered meals for
Meals-on-Wheels. He was
also an active volunteer with
the Keizer Community Li-
brary and had long been a
member of the Chemeketans,
a Salem-based outdoors group.
A celebration of life will
be held today, Oct. 9 from 1
to 3 p.m. on the second fl oor
of the Keizer Heritage Cen-
ter, 980 Chemawa Road NE.
Burr requested the party be-
fore his passing.
“Hopefully it will make
up somewhat for my reputa-
tion as the world’s No. 1 party
pooper,” he wrote.
Burr wrote his own obitu-
ary (see page A3) and wrote
some fi nal thoughts shortly
before passing. That’s not too
surprising, considering Burr
was a regular writer of letters
to the editor for this paper.
looked at. Williams said tran-
sit leaders stressed polling had
shown a property tax would
not be successful, but a pay-
roll tax would. That informa-
tion was later confi rmed by
Robert Krebs, president of the
Salem-Keizer Transit Board of
Directors.
Williams said there are sev-
eral reasons the payroll doesn’t
work, including higher costs
due to health care.
“In Oregon, businesses are
being looked at to pay for
everything,” Williams said.
“With this tax, small busi-
nesses are being targeted. This
is not an indictment on tran-
2015
DIESEL
ULTIMATE
PKG
impact on prices to consum-
ers has been overstated. For
example, he pointed out the
tax on a $500 payroll would
be $1.05. In addition, Krebs
noted the state already pays a
.6 percent tax currently.
“If we pass this tax, that’s
another $5 million coming
into the community,” he said.
“Then the funding would be
50 percent from property tax,
25 percent from the state and
25 percent from the payroll
tax.”
Krebs said the local transit
system is behind the times due
to a funding shortage.
Howl-A-
Palooza
PAGE A9
Please see TRANSIT, Page A6
Big ally for Big Toy
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
For a second time, lead-
ers of the Big Toy project are
gathering the pieces to apply
for a large grant from the Or-
egon Parks and Recreation
Department.
Now they may have found
a big boost: the man who used
to be in charge of the OPRD’s
grant program is offering to
help in any way needed.
Marion County Commis-
sion Janet Carlson, a member
of the Community Build Task
Force, reached out to Wayne
Rawlins recently. Rawlins at-
tended Tuesday’s monthly
CBTF meeting, where the
main topic of conversation
was what to put in the appli-
cation for the OPRD’s Local
Government Grant.
In 2014, Nate Brown, di-
rector of Community Devel-
opment for Keizer, applied
for a $150,000 grant through
the program on behalf of the
project. That application was
denied.
Richard Walsh, a CBTF
Please see BURR, Page A6
Utility boxes to
be wrapped?
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Hopefully it won’t be a
smokin’ deal.
Members of the Keizer
Public Arts Association have
talked about the idea of paint-
ing utility boxes along River
Road for some time. Now
there’s a possible new twist:
doing wraps on the boxes.
Nate Brown, director of
Community Development for
Keizer, brought up the idea
during the most recent KPAC
meeting.
“This company will do a
template, then wrap the box,”
Brown said. “It costs $300 to
$600 for them to wrap the
box. It’s graffi ti-resistant. It’s a
like a vinyl car wrap.”
In response to a ques-
tion from KPAC chair Lore
Christopher, Brown said art
gets printed digitally onto
the wrap before installation. A
sit. This is an indictment on
something that is not good for
Salem. Regardless of the out-
come, there’s got to be a better
fi t for Salem. Our stakeholders
are committed to fi guring this
out.”
Krebs, who agreed with
Williams there is a need for
statewide transit funding, not-
ed the payroll tax came out far
ahead versus the alternative.
“The payroll tax came out
25 points ahead of the proper-
ty tax,” Krebs said. “We made
a business decision to go with
the payroll tax.”
Krebs said the notion a pay-
roll tax would have a drastic
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Wayne Rawlins on Tuesday offered to help Big Toy leaders
apply for a grant he used to be in charge of for the state.
member, noted that denial was
a big reason why the Big Toy
play structure opened in June
with engineered wood fi ber
ground covering instead of
the highly desired poured-in-
place rubber surface.
“We could not reach our
goal so we had to cut back,”
Walsh said. “We cut out the
spongy surface for $150,000.
That was going to be for fall
Please see BIG TOY, Page A7
Salute to the past
JPEG fi le is sent, which gets
printed on the vinyl.
Jessi Long pointed out the
elections department in the
Marion County Clerk’s Of-
fi ce uses a similar product for
ballot boxes.
Beth Melendy wanted to
make sure research has been
done to ensure the wraps
won’t cause the boxes to over-
heat.
“3M says the material
doesn’t add to the thermal
loading,” Brown said. “If it’s
black, it raises the internal
temperature by 15 degrees.
This company is working
with Salem and will do this
on six boxes. We will be able
to use that and see.”
Christopher liked the idea
and suggested doing fundrais-
ing to secure the necessary
money.
Full Monty's
Bistro and
Taphouse
offi cially opened
Oct. 1 at 4820
River Road
N. One of the
more unique
decorations
inside is the
glass that used
to be in the front
door when the
business was
Porter's Pub. For
more photos,
please see page
A3.
KEIZERTIMES/
Craig Murphy
Celts win on
late INT
PAGE A10
Local team
makes ESPN
PAGE A10
Please see BOXES, Page A8
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2015
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Leaders with the Keiz-
er and Salem Chambers of
Commerce have made it clear
they’re against a proposed pay-
roll tax on local businesses to
pay for transit improvements.
A community conversa-
tion took place Sept. 30 at the
Keizer Quality Suites to air
some of the frustrations busi-
ness owners have about the
tax.
The conversation was also
a chance for proponents to
explain the tax and to answer
questions about the tax which
will be on next month's ballot.
Needless to say, there were
plenty of questions.
Leaders with the Salem-
Keizer Transit District have
proposed a 0.21 percent pay-
roll tax for all local private
businesses – not just small
businesses, as erroneously re-
ported previously – to bring in
roughly $5 million a year. That
funding would help bring
back extended weeknight ser-
vice as well as weekend and
some holiday service. A special
election is being held Nov. 3.
Governmental employers
and non-profi t employers (ex-
cept for hospitals) would be
exempt from the tax, though
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