AUGUST 19, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
City staff lays out potential funding
levels, service improvements
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Members of the Keizer
Parks
and
Recreation
Advisory Board got a better
look at what different fee
levels would provide as far as
benefi ts at a meeting Tuesday,
Aug. 9.
The parks board is in the
process of composing a survey
to ask residents about their
support for a fee added to utility
bills resulting in the creation
of a dedicated parks fund.
Current funding levels allow
for minimal improvements
and maintenance.
Which options should be
included in the survey remain
a topic of heated debate
among the members of the
board, but it was the fi rst time
staff presented a detailed look
at what the possibilities were.
Here is what the board is
considering:
• Option 1 is doing nothing.
Without an fee, parks staff
will need to reduce weekly
watering and trash removal
schedules, remove some play
structures as they reach the
end of their lifecycle, and close
off some courts and park areas
that will become hazards due
to unsafe conditions.
• Option 2 a $2.36 fee
per bill (every two months)
would result in an additional
$202,000 per year. It would
add a third, full-time parks
employee and an additional
seasonal worker as well as a
new vehicle and mower with
trailer. It would allow the staff
to replace or repair some play
structures and resurface old
sports courts and asphalt paths
sooner than they can currently.
• A fee of $5.32 per bill
($456,00 per year) would
include everything under
the Option 2, plus a fast-
tracking of several projects in
the Keizer Parks Master Plan
and improving maintenance
in parks that border the
Willamette River. The budget
for maintenance would grow
to $104,000 per year and
$150,000 would be set aside
for improvements.
• Option 4 is $11.66 per bill
(about $1.04 million per year).
In addition to everything in
the fi rst two fee options, the
rate would allow the city to
work toward completing all
elements in the Master Plan
within the next decade. Three
additional full-time employees
would be hired, three vehicles
and mowers would be
purchased and a new parks
shop would be built, most
likely, in Keizer Rapids Park.
Any fee will likely include
an escalator clause allowing
the city to keep pace with
infl ation.
Parks Board member Matt
Lawyer presented the rest of
the board with a draft of a
keypoints
• Board to put
$2-$8 options on
survey
• Survey verbiage
still a work-in-
progress
potential survey and it kicked
off discussions that lasted most
of the meeting.
Richard Walsh said he’d
passed along the survey to
several acquaintances and got
mixed feedback.
“Almost everyone was
confused,” Walsh said. “They
don’t know about the master
plan or what FTE is and
they said they wouldn’t fi ll
it out because they didn’t
understand it.”
Walsh presented the board
with a revised take on the
survey that included different
wording. He also expressed
concern over an explanatory
statement.
“We can’t lead anyone
to believe that the crisis is
because of the extra acreage
at Keizer Rapids Park. If they
think we dug ourselves a hole
and made foolish decisions
then we’ll never convince
anyone,” Walsh said. He added
that the “300-pound gorilla in
the room” was the increasing
amounts the city must pay
into the Public Employees
Retirement System, which
eats up much of any surplus
the city can plan on in any
given year.
Board member JT Hager
grew heated when discussing
which options should be put
forth on the survey.
“I don’t see options 1
through 3 taking care of our
problems, and I would take
those off. For too long we’ve
been too timid in what we’re
asking for. We’re operating
substandard and way below
where we should. I’m not on
this board to have inadequate,
inferior parks,” Hager said.
Board member Jim Taylor
said he liked including exact
fi gures, but worried about
what would happen when
costs rise down the stretch.
By the end of discussions,
board members opted to
present options of $2, $4, $6
and $8 per month on the
survey.
The board was hoping
to present the Keizer City
Council with a draft survey
at its meeting Monday, Aug.
15, but decided to postpone
action while more details were
hammered out. Whatever
form the survey takes, it will
be bundled with questions
about support for another fee
to support increased police
services. There is no proposed
deadline for when the surveys
will be sent out.
“The status quo is clearly
not where we want to go, but
that is what we are up against,”
Lawyer said. “My kids matter,
the parks matter, the police
matter and what the city
wants matters.”
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Waste rates will climb
5 percent in October
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Waste removal rates will in-
crease by 5 percent for residen-
tial customers in October.
The Keizer City Council
unanimously supported a fee
increase that will add a $1.05
to the average customer with a
35-gallon solid waste container
and 95-gallon containers for
mixed recyclables and organics.
The council’s unanimous
selection was the middle
ground between levying the
increase solely on the residen-
tial customers and one that fo-
cused on commercial users.
“In the past, commercial
rates have subsidized the resi-
dential rates, and that’s why we
give these three options,” said
John Sullivan, general manager
of Lorens Sanitation and Re-
cycling Services.
The most a residential cus-
tomer will see under the in-
crease is $1.47 for those using
the largest solid waste contain-
ers. For a commercial custom-
er with a 95-gallon, roll cart
for solid waste, rates will in-
crease from $30.30 to $31.82.
Businesses with a three-yard,
front load container prices
will increase from $176.61 to
$185.44.
“I would like to work to-
ward a non-subsidized rate,”
said Councilor Mark Cail-
lier in support of the middle-
ground option.
In addition to the increas-
es, the city council directed
the local franchise operators,
which includes Valley Recy-
cling and Disposal, to come
back with a plan for the next
increase that includes options
for paying per volume for resi-
dential customers.
The idea was presented to
the council by Keizer resident
Pat Fisher who felt that resi-
dents doing more to recycle
and compost waste should be
rewarded for those efforts.
“My issue is not so much
the percentage issue, but the
relative container sizes be-
tween the residential options,”
Fisher said. “The current rates
are unfair to those of us the
put an emphasis on recycling.
It seems that I pay more than
twice as much per volume.”
Fisher presented a potential
revamp of fees that would in-
clude a fl at fee for all residen-
tial customers alongside a per
gallon rate for each container
size. Fisher urged the city lead-
ers to move in that direction.
While council members
generally expressed support
for the idea, there was concern
about the timeline the waste
removal businesses are trying
to meet. In October, Lorens
and Valley Recycling will be
hit with a more than 30 per-
cent increase in tipping fees,
the fees charged by the area’s
disposal sites for dropping off a
load of trash. The rate hikes are
intended to help them offset
the increases.
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