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.
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