SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 2018 | 9A
LEVY from page 1A
Those differences in opinions
were actually huge, and led to
heated public arguments. Several
city councilors ended up quit-
ting, as did much of the city staff.
“It was a brutal time,” Mills re-
called.
Running on volunteers, the
city was treading water. The
Lane County rule change went
unnoticed by Dunes City. Lane
County didn’t notice either, so
for the past decade the city has
continued to collect the shared
revenue.
“We don’t know why it wasn’t
noticed,” Mills said. “Nobody
said anything and nobody did
anything. Not even our auditors
saw it, and they do our books.
We’ve just been flying under the
radar screen because we’ve been
receiving those funds, but we do
not assess the tax. So that’s a vi-
olation.”
A violation that could take
away up to $100,000 from the
city annually.
“We would be deep in trou-
ble,” if the money went away,
City Council President Robert
Orr said.
It wasn’t until this year that
staff realized the discrepancy and
spoke to the city’s lawyers about
ways to rectify the problem.
The answer? Impose a proper-
ty tax.
“We don’t really want to assess
a tax,” Mills said. “We needed a
very, very minimal tax just so we
can say, ‘Yes we assess a proper-
ty tax, so give us the money our
people pay you already.’”
Dunes City’s suggested solu-
tion is to create a $.005 tax on
FRAA ART CENTER
120 Maple Street
Phone: 541-997-4435
Hours Open: Wed-Fri 11am-5pm,
Sat 10am-5pm, Sun. 11am-5pm
Classes, Workshops & Events
Art and Craft Supplies Sale
Big Wave Poetry Slam
Monday, June 18th, 4-7 pm
Join FRAA as artists sell their extra art &
craft supplies to the public hoping to make
room for new craft supplies! Have extra
supplies you would like to sell at the event,
contact FRAA.
Sat., June 30th, 6:30 pm at the FEC
Prizes will be awarded. To join the contest,
visit www.fraaoregon.org . Or just come
and enjoy. Tickets $5 available at the
door.
Big Wave Poetry 1st Tuesday
Open Mic
Call to Artists: Central Coast
Connection Phone Book
Contest - Photography
July 3rd at 6:30 pm. Admission is free and
refreshments will be available.
Have your photography grace the cover of
the 2019 phone book! Details available at
www.fraaoregon.org . Deadline for entry
is June 30th.
Poetry Writing Class with Jeff
Lovejoy
Call to Artists: Spirit of Summer
Art Exhibit, FRAA and the
Friends of the Florence Gallery
Committee
July and August 2018 at the Event Center.
Deadline for entry is June 22nd. Details
available at www.fraaoregon.org .
Writers on the River - Creative
Writing w/ Catherine Rourke -
Writing to Heal Your Life
Sat., July 28th 10 am - 12 noon
Journaling/storytelling for transformation.
All writing levels and genres, Contact:
CJReditor@gmail.com , 541-708-2120
Tuesday, July 10th, 6-8 pm. All levels
welcome! Recapping intro class; new
poems, exercises, discussion of poetry
problems. Contact Jeff for questions and
registration: jlovejoy54@gmail.com
Bastille Day Literary Salon with
Catherine Rourke
Saturday, July 14th, 6:30-8:30 pm
Writers Open Mic, Tribute to Tom Wolfe,
Phil Roth, Anthony Bourdain
Free public event, $5 suggested donation
Email CJReditor@gmail.com or
541-708-2120
property value.
“Half a penny,” Mills ex-
plained.
And how much will residents
end up paying annually? For a
home that is worth $200,000, the
homeowner will end up paying
the city $1 annually.
“You’re not paying $4,000 a
year from property tax,” Dunes
City Mayor Robert Forsythe said.
The city believes that the total
revenue collected from all of the
city’s residents would be around
$1,216.
But, as was pointed out by city
councilors, there is always a dan-
ger of “creeping taxes.” It may
start off at half a penny, but fu-
ture city councils could push to
increase the amount.
The solution staff came up
with was to make this “tax” an
option levy that expires in five
years. The rate can’t be raised
within those five years, and after
the levy runs out, the city and the
voters reevaluate.
Dunes City Budget Commit-
tee member Rory Hammond,
who helped with the idea, ex-
pressed why he felt the plan was
good for Dunes City.
“I fear over regulation,” he
said. “I fear a great governmen-
tal bureaucracy that grows. I
fear overzealous code enforce-
ments. I fear high taxes. This
state has a culture that ‘govern-
ment knows best,’ but frankly it
doesn’t. I believe in local control,
and I believe that this tax will
create more good to help Dunes
City residents than hurt them.
We have to do this tax because
overzealous regulations. It’s too
bad that we have to do this. But
it’s the only way to get around
it. I don’t want to see this be the
start of a huge property tax, but
I think it’s the right thing to do.”
In another ballot measure ap-
proved by the city council, the
city’s current struggles with col-
lecting code enforcement funds
was addressed.
Currently, the city has no
agreement with a municipal
court judge to hear cases regard-
ing code enforcement infrac-
tions, such as violation to septic
codes to nuisance orders.
Generally, the city attempts
to avoid forcing citizens to pay
fines.
“If people will sit down with
me and talk about how they can
get results to everybody’s sat-
isfaction, we don’t fine them,”
Mills said. “We try and build in
a lot of flexibility to everybody’s
satisfaction.”
But sometimes people aren’t
so amenable. Some residents say
they will fix an issue but don’t
while other residents don’t even
bother responding to an inquiry
in the first place.
“Or they just lie and say they’ve
done it, which has happened,”
Mills said.
The reason people can get
away with this is because Dunes
City has no real enforcement.
“In order to do anything, I
have to travel to Eugene and have
them enter it in,” Mills explained.
“I can enter fines now, but I can’t
collect them. I don’t have the
authority to place a lien without
court approval.”
So the city is looking to enter
an agreement with the circuit
court judge who hears trials in
Florence three times a week.
City code does state that any
court proceedings would have to
take place at Dunes City hall.
“The way our charter is writ-
ten right now, in order to have
a municipal judge, they have to
meet right here,” Mills explained.
“If that were to happen, you
would have to have several meet-
ing rooms. You have to have a
separate place to put all files and
a bailiff as well.”
The measure would allow
Dunes City to have its trials
heard in Florence.
However, councilors ques-
tioned if paying for a judge
through the collections of fines
would be worth the effort and
expense.
“My thought on the topic is,
a small percentage of [fines] is
better than 100 percent of noth-
ing,” Forsythe said. “And what
happens is, it puts teeth into our
ordinances.”
Dunes City residents will have
the opportunity to vote on the
measures this November.
MEALS from page 1A
mer is a natural fit to meet the
demand.”
The impact of hunger on a stu-
dent’s life can be uncomfortable
and distracting in the short term,
but also significantly detrimental
over the long term.
A growing child’s ability to un-
derstand and integrate new con-
cepts has been directly linked to
proper nutritional support. In
short, it’s hard to think when you
are hungry and it’s hard to do well
in school if you can’t think.
No Kid Hungry has found that
4 million youth rely on free meals
during the summer when school
meals are not available.
This is one reason for Siuslaw
School District’s summer meal
program, which has been de-
signed to serve all youth in the
area, from one year old to 18, free
of charge.
Grzeskowiak said that any
young person that needs some-
thing to eat can receive a free
meal, or two a day, even when
school is not in session.
“Unlike the school sessions,
there is no qualifying criteria. All
you have to do is be a kid in the
community under the age of 18,”
Grzeskowiak said. “It doesn’t mat-
ter to the district whether they are
visiting relatives for the summer,
home schoolers, preschoolers or
get rolled up in a stroller.
“So, I guess there are really two
criteria; be a kid and need a meal.”
The meal locations and the dis-
tribution times for this year are
slightly different than in year’s
past.
Breakfast and lunch service will
be Monday through Friday be-
ginning June 19 and continuing
through Aug. 17, with a day off
for the Fourth of July.
Breakfast is served between 8
and 8:30 a.m. at Siuslaw elementa-
ry and high schools on Oak Street.
Lunch is served at the elemen-
tary school from 11:30 to 11:55
a.m., then delivered to Miller Park
between noon and 12:15 p.m. The
delivery van then goes to the Siu-
slaw Public Library, 1460 Ninth
St., from 12:20 to 12:35 p.m. The
lunch distribution ends up at Siu-
slaw High School from 12:40 to
12:55 p.m.
There are a number of other
programs underway in Florence
that are also concerned with the
issue of childhood hunger.
Grzeskowiak is glad for the
broader attention being paid to
the problem.
“Summer seems to one of the
forgotten times for donations
to many service organizations.
If anyone in the community is
interested in donating or help-
ing one of our partner orga-
niza-tions, I would encourage
them to contact Food Backpack
For Kids, the Boys & Girls Club
of Western Lane County or Flor-
ence Food Share,” he said. “They
can always use a few more do-
na-tions or helping hands, no
matter the time of the year. The
need is always present.”
For more information, con-
tact the Siuslaw School District
Office at 541-997-2651 or visit
siuslaw.k12.or.us.
Grzeskowiak continued, “Many
of their parents are working
during the day, so continuing
meal services during the sum-
Painting with John Leasure
Saturdays 9 am - 12 pm
Contact: jnleasure@hotmail.com or
541-991-2754 for details and fees.
For more information about classes, visit fraaoregon.org. To register for
these classes, please call or visit FRAA at our art center on Maple Street.
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Always Something Happening
541.997.1994 | 888.968.4086
715 Q UINCE S TREET
F LORENCE , OR 97439
WWW . EVENTCENTER . ORG
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Two Showings @ City Lights Cinema
1:30pm • 6:30pm
Tickets are FREE*
Admission tickets are required
and available at City
City Lights Cinema 1920 HWY 101
*Only 230 tickets available, fi rst come, fi rst served.
Limit 4 per person.
Representatives will be available for a
Q&A after each showing.
Watch
“In Search of the Lord’s Way”
Sunday, 7:30 AM
KMTR Cable Channel 12
Western Lane Translator Channel 16.2
Then visit the
Florence church of Christ
1833 Tamarack
Florence, Oregon
and experience the joy and simplicity of
pre-denominational New Testament Worship. (Romans 16:16)
Bible Study: Sunday, 10:00 am
Worship: Sunday, 11:00 am
www.churchofchristfl orence.org
