APRIL 29, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A11
BUDGET,
KPAC: ‘We have sold 10
photos so far for $200...’
continued from Page A1
(Continued from pg. A1)
At last month’s KPAC
meeting, it was decided 10
spaces would be sold at that
price.
“We have sold 10 photos so
far for $200 each,” Hagen said
at Tuesday’s meeting. “Plus we
have three people on the wait-
ing list. Everyone has gotten
receipts for the 10.”
As for the three people on
the waiting list, Hagen sug-
gested offering the faces being
put in the crowd of spectators
– which would be smaller –
for $100 each.
“It would be just three to
take care of the waiting list,
then we’d keep the raffl e the
way it is,” Hagen said.
Christopher and Rick Day
didn’t like that idea.
“They had their spot in line
at that price ($200),” Day said.
As previously discussed,
four face portraits are being
raffl ed off in drawings. In ad-
dition, there will be portraits
of Keizer’s six mayors to date
and one of longtime Town &
Country owner Don Lebold.
Hagen liked the idea of
keeping the four raffl e win-
ners and agreed with keeping
the $200 price for the three
still on the waiting list.
It was decided the three on
the waiting list will be in with
the spectators, while the six
mayors will have the choice
of either being mixed in with
the spectators or as separate
portraits.
KPAC chair Beth Melendy
said people can enter the raffl e
drawings until May 31. The
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
A look at the one-fourth scale paper replica of the public mural
that will be going up this summer along the north wall at Town
& Country Lanes in Keizer.
drawing will take place on
Thursday, June 2 at 5:30 p.m.
at the Keizertimes offi ce at 142
Chemawa Road NE.
The next issue for Hagen is
fi nding artists to do the actual
painting of the portraits. A call
to artists was sent out but the
response proved the opposite
of the portrait sales.
“No one entered a portfo-
lio,” she said. “We need to ex-
pand our search.”
Hagen said she’ll reach out
to artists in other communi-
ties as well as colleges in the
area. Jessi Long suggested so-
liciting interested high school
students through Salem-Keiz-
er Education Foundation ex-
ecutive director Krina Lee, as
SKEF organized the successful
student art show on display
through the end of May at
Keizer Civic Center.
Christopher said artists will
be paid $40 per face painted
and can do up to fi ve faces.
Hagen would like to start
painting the street and sky
background for the mural on
the week of May 23 to 27, us-
ing grey for the street and blue
for the sky.
“I’m looking at two to
three days to do this,” she said.
After the background is
done, Hagen said gridding
will be done for the rest of
the mural in the fi rst week of
June, with the main part of the
mural being done after that.
No project end date was an-
nounced.
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We work well as a team
together here. It’s about
getting
the
information
reviewed, reviewed again and
then reviewed a third time.”
The preliminary budget is
viewable on the city’s website.
In print form, the budget is
close to 200 pages.
“We start setting the
calendar in the fall,” Wood
said. “We make sure we have
all of the committee members.
Once we get to January, we
start looking at the numbers
and where we’re going to
go. The truth is, we’re doing
this year-round. It’s just a
confi rmation of things we
know and getting thoughts to
paper in January.”
Department heads are
given the initial budget and
come back with any changes
by mid-February. Between
then and the long-range
planning meeting in early
April, Wood and his staff go
through budget requests and
match them up with revenue.
“We look at all of the
variables and what we think
will happen with revenues,”
Wood said.
The
Keizer
Budget
Committee holds its fi rst
meeting of the year on
Tuesday, May 3 at 6 p.m. in
council chambers at Keizer
Civic Center. The committee
also meets at the same time on
Thursday, May 5 with optional
meetings on May 10 and 17.
“There can be big changes
between
the
meetings,”
Wood said. “It can be frantic
getting everything together.
Historically, we haven’t had
too many requests for changes.
The challenge is that changing
one budget has the possibility
to impact other budgets.”
Wood said the 2016-17
budget is $38 million total,
a little more than the $37
million from last year.
“The increase comes from a
little bit of everything,” Wood
said. “For example, there is
an increase in utilities. Water
is up 4 percent, sewer is up
3 percent and stormwater is
up 9.1 percent, or about $.50
per ESU (Equivalent Service
Unit). Those will support our
capital improvement plans.”
One key recommendation
in the budget is making
Kristian Bouvier’s Event
Center Coordinator position
a permanent position, after
being a limited-duration job
in the past.
“I asked it to be funded as a
regular position,” city manager
Chris Eppley said at the long-
range planning meeting. “It
has been limited duration
longer than a limited duration
position should be limited
duration.”
Wood said the increase in
revenue compared to a year
ago justifi es the change.
“ We’ve seen
the venue do
well. We are
looking at
above $135,000
being brought
in for that.
We’re trying
to get the
weekday slots
fi lled. Weekend
slots are
fi lled through
September.
That’s a good
problem to
have.”
— Tim Wood,
on revenues of the
Keizer Civic Center
“We’ve seen the venue do
well,” he said. “We are looking
at above $135,000 being
brought in for that. We’re
trying to get the weekday slots
fi lled. Weekend slots are fi lled
through September. That’s a
good problem to have.”
Another hot topic at the
long-range planning meeting
was adding back another
police offi cer.
“We have a vacant police
offi cer position we are going
to sit on for a while,” Wood
crossword
said. “We will look at revenues
in the middle of the year. If
it’s sustainable, we will add
the offi cer back in. In January,
it could be a supplemental
budget increase.”
If that indeed happens, it
wouldn’t be the fi rst time
recently for the Keizer Police
Department. Cara Steele, the
KPD’s crime analyst, started
part-time but is now full-time.
“We have a history in
doing that,” Wood said. “It
gives the city the benefi t of
seeing where the revenue will
come in at. It lets us know if
we have any wiggle room to
add back services.”
In theory, the new housing
seen in the last year in Keizer
will help with revenue. Several
senior center living facilities
have either opened or are
being built, not to mention
a large apartment project at
Keizer Station and several new
housing developments. But
new housing doesn’t lead to
immediate new taxes for cities.
“We are looking at about a
year-and-a-half out with new
housing revenue,” Wood said.
“The county assessor does
an assessment as of June 1.
Anything fi nished then will
be on the tax rolls Oct. 1.
Anything else will be Oct. 1
the next year.”
The
hotel
Transit
Occupancy Tax (TOT) was
initially budgeted at $60,000
but Wood said it will likely
be closer to $80,000 thanks
to an uptick in business at the
Keizer Quality Suites.
“They have done really
well,” Wood said. “Being able
to access online booking
systems has helped them. I
think that will be the new
norm as we go forward.”
The TOT revenue formerly
going into general fund to
help pay for Bouvier’s position
is now being put directly into
her position.
“That
means
the
community center is no
longer being funded by the
general fund,” Wood said. “It is
self-sustaining.”
Ben
Crosby’s
Code
Enforcement offi cer position
was added back a couple of
years ago since it was deemed
to be “really a needed service”
even though it hasn’t added
revenue.