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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (May 11, 2018)
PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 11, 2018 Budget includes support BUDGET, for several local efforts continued from Page A1 By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes Members of the Keizer Budget Committee were in a giving mood last week as a number of local organizations were granted additional fund- ing or fi rst-time funding in the city’s annual budget. Three of the standouts were the Keizer Chamber of Com- merce, the Keizer Cultural Center and a non-profi t known as Keizer United. The Chamber and Keizer United were tenta- tively approved for additional funding, but will need to come back and present detailed plans to the city council prior to money being disbursed. The Chamber’s typical an- nual support includes about $3,000 for a membership pack- age, an advertisement in the group’s annual lifestyle direc- tory and $2,500 for support Chamber employees supply in visitor services. Last week, Chamber Execu- tive Director Danielle Bethell and Chamber President Nate Bauer requested an addition- al allotment of $8,500 from the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) Keizer collects on hotel stays. The amount is 10 percent of what Keizer collects annually in TOT. “The Chamber promotes the businesses, but also the community. We’re asking for some funds to help do that,” said Bauer. Until 2011, the Chamber re- ceived 20 percent of the TOT collections, but an slow eco- nomic recovery combined with the need to prop up a new civic center while it gained a place in the event market meant money was used elsewhere. Bethell said the Chamber intends to use the additional TOT money to help secure a new space on River Road North. “The 1,000 people that we bring – awkwardly – to our space in Keizer Station would double if we were on River Road. We need help to do that,” Bethell said. Budget Committee mem- bers, which include city coun- cilors and a citizen advisory group, approved the additional request for TOT dollars with the caveat that a more detailed plan was needed. The same was true for Keiz- er United, a non-profi t that is working to connect the vary- ing efforts of many Keizer or- ganizations and schools seeking volunteers, funding and in-kind support. After a request for $2,000 in the last budget cycle met with concern, Meredith Mooney, a spokesperson for Keizer Unit- ed, returned this year loaded for bear. “We are asking for some fi - nancial support because Keizer United is repurposing its mis- sion and vision, and we’ve more than doubled our repre- sentation at the table,” Mooney said. Mooney said the group’s new mission includes being a neutral ground for collabora- tions to happen among other efforts from all sectors of the Keizer community. She also pre-sweetened the pot by se- curing a matching $2,000 grant from the Salem Leadership Foundation. While Keizer United was approved for funding, a more detailed plan will need to be presented at the city council. The committee also ap- proved doubling fi nancial sup- port for the Keizer Cultural Center, the old school next to the Keizer Civic Center. Leaders from the Keizer Art Association, Keizer Heritage Foundation, Keizer Home- grown Theater, Keizer Heri- tage Museum and Keizer Community Library all turned out over the course of two nights to make their case for a $20,000 allocation to help sup- port all fi ve groups during the next fi scal year. Linda Baker, founder of Keizer Homegrown, said a cultural center is something unique to the surrounding ar- eas. “The closet cultural centers are Lincoln City and Lake- wood, and we are the only one that has the theater smack dab in the middle of town,” said Baker. “Arts money also stays in the community, 45 cents of every dollar stays in the local area. We’re looking at bringing something to the community not just asking for it.” One point of concern was money from the city being put into the sinking fund for the building as a whole. Com- mittee Member Ron Bersin wanted to see the tenants of the building build up that fund rather than seeing taxpayer money go into it. Nothing was set in stone, but representatives of the cultural center made verbal concessions. Chris Erich, representing the Keizer Heritage Founda- tion which oversees the facil- ity, said management is also investigating insurance plans to cover catastrophic expenses. City Manager Chris Eppley said his support stemmed from almost purely pragmatic con- cerns. “A cultural center provides an esoteric value to the com- munity, but I support this be- cause I am certain, if we don’t do this, that the organizations will fail and the city will inher- it the building. At that point we either tear it down or it goes into disrepair,” Eppley said. “Under any scenario, doing something else is going to cost way more than the $20,000.” Other projects that received special attention in the budget included: allocating $60,000 for an electronic readerboard for the Keizer Civic Center, the funding will come from a contingency fund dedicated to the civic center; a $2,000 increase in stipends for pub- lic art; $2,000 to replace the lights and wiring for the city’s Christmas tree; $6,000 for the Salem-Keizer Education Foun- dation after school program- ming; and $5,000 for the Mid- Willamette Homeless Initiative, which helps cover the costs of a program manager connecting the various organizations that reach out to the area’s homeless residents. The entire budget is avail- able for review at www. keizer.org and there will be an additional public hearing on the budget when the city council weighs in on a fi nal approval. While much of the budget includes minor shifts, Keizertimes is focusing on the two topics that generated the most talk among committee members. In a separate story, we will look as the special projects that received fi nan- cial support. PERSONNEL COSTS The 2018-19 budget in- cludes allowances for employ- ee wage increases between 3 and 6.5 percent. Most will get a 3 percent cost-of-living in- crease, the higher percentages factor in step increases. Budget Committee Mem- ber Ron Bersin questioned the amount of the cost-of- living increases saying it was higher than others he’s seen in his job as executive direc- tor of the Oregon Govern- ment Ethics Commission. “We’re playing catch-up after a few years of 1.5 per- cent increases,” said Tim Wood, Keizer fi nance direc- tor. Every four years, the city conducts a salary study of comparable cities to see how Keizer wages align with mu- nicipal organizations the same size. Human Resources Di- rector Machell DePina said the 3 percent increase fell in the middle of the outliers culled from the study, 2 per- cent on the low end and 4.5 percent on the high end. The higher wages will be drawn from increases in prop- erty tax revenues and other taxes like those associated with marijuana and liquor. “The reason we choose to put that toward employees is because we are a labor-inten- sive organization, said City Manager Chris Eppley. WATER RATES In regard to water rates, Bersin has called out the resi- dential subsidy of commercial water rates for at least the past two years. He brought up the issue again last week. Wood said the city planned to do a review of water rates in the 2020-21 fi scal year af- ter the water system’s debt has been paid off, but Bersin wants quicker action. “One of the reasons con- tingency funds are baked into budgets is for projects like this,” Bersin said. “There ought to be some sort of commitment to the residents. Single family homes pay more than multifamily, which pays more than commercial. A 4 percent increase on those rates is harder on residential customers.” The water fund has about $125,000 in contingency funds and the last time the city commissioned a water rate study, around 2002-03, it cost approximately $43,000. Wood added that if all rates were equalized the subsidy provided by residential cus- tomers amounts to roughly $1.25 per year. Celebrate all the mothers in your life Mothers Day is Sunday, May 13 BOUCHER JEWELERS 4965 R IVER R OAD N • 503-393-0701 • M ONDAY -F RIDAY 9-6 • S ATURDAY 9-5
