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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (June 24, 2016)
JUNE 24, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A7 UNLOCK: ‘We don’t have the 86.4 percent to make things happen’ (Continued from page 1) The larger pot of money is that collected since April 2009, about $793,000. The problem is that those fees can only be used to improve parks, not for maintenance or repair. On top of that, SDC fees can only be used to cover 13.6 percent of the costs of any improvement. For example, say city offi cials approve the installment of a new $100,000 play structure at your neighborhood park. SDC funds could only pay for $13,600 of the cost. The remaining $86,400 would have to come out of other parts of the city budget or through grants or sponsor- ships, which would also take staff time to track down and apply for – at a time when the budget is still stretched fairly thin on Keizer’s low property tax rate. One of the most recent uses of new SDC money was $50,000 to “sweeten the pro- posal” for a grant application to upgrade surfaces at Keizer Rapids Park Big Toy and to build the fi rst restrooms with fl ushing toilets in any city park. The percentage permit- ted for use on new projects is set by state law. Given all that, a dedicated parks fund is seen as the key to unlock to door on using the money that’s already been collected. “We have 13.6 available, but we don’t have the 86.4 percent to make things hap- pen,” said parks board mem- ber Donna Bradley. The board is considering adding the dedicated parks fee to utility bills. It would be collected per Keizer dwell- ing. No amount has been set, but a $2 month fee ($4 per billing cycle) would amount to an extra $355,200 in an- nual dedicated parks fund- ing. At that amount, it would still take more than 16 years to unlock all of the existing $793,000 in new SDC funds. Parks board members wrestled with the phrasing of questions on a survey they plan to send to residents for input on the issue. Citing the last time the city tried ied to enact a utility fee – on cell phones in 2011, the proposal went down in fl ames – board member, and former city councilor, Jim Taylor opposed using any funds collected on park im- provements. “I am adamant that this be maintenance only because people want it to be spe- cifi c about how it’s going to help them. We’ve been down this road before,” Taylor said. “We need a ‘have to’ list not a ‘want to’ list. The mainte- nance is very, very diffi cult to get funding for and if we can take care of the maintenance, then we can go out and look for other projects.” Parks board member JT Hager disagreed with that stance. “We are already being frus- trated with restrictions and we need the latitude to look at the funds and what needs doing,” Hager said. “I don’t think you’re giving enough credit to the intelligence on the (parks) board. I haven’t seen any indication or sug- gestion that anything (we’ve approved) wasn’t needed or wasn’t an improvement.” B Y SDC T H E N U M B 3 R S Keizer collects system development charges (SDCs) when new homes and apartments are built. SDCs collected since April 2009 can only be applied to 13.6 percent of any new project. The Keizer Parks Advisory Board is trying to unlock that money to improve parks throughout Keizer by creating a dedicated parks fund with a fee added to utility bills. The fee below is hypothethical, but shows how long it would take to spend the fees already collected. $ 2 potential fee added to water bill 14,800 approximate number of dw dwellings in Keizer 355,200 $ 42,800 $ parks funds collected in one year of potential fee amount of SDC funds freed up with one year of dedicated parks fee 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 HOW LONG it would take to spend down SDC funds already collected 16 YEARS If you can’t beat ‘em, JOIN ‘EM 4925 RI VER RD N, KEIZER – 503.798. 4123 – AviationCoffee.com COFFEE SERVED FROM 7 AM • BURGERS SERVED FROM 11 AM • FREE WIFI Buy 5 – Get 1 FREE Now serving premium espresso drinks INSTEAD OF WAITING IN LINE NEXT DOOR DOWNLOAD THE NANCY’S BURGERS APP FOR ONLINE ORDERING AND EXPRESS DRIVE - UP SERVICE 2 $ 16 oz. COFFEE DRINKS ALL DAY – EVERY DAY