SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2018 | 9A
DUNES CITY from page 6A
“My thought on the topic is, a small
percentage of [fines] is better than 100
percent of nothing,” Forsythe said.
“And what happens is, it puts teeth into
our ordinances.”
Crime was a big concern to those at
Darling’s. There were multiple com-
ments about the inability to get a prop-
er police response.
“This summer, there was some
creepy guy that was on (my friend’s)
property,” one person said. “They had
to wait an hour and 45 minutes to get
someone from Eugene.”
The reasons for this lie in the fact
that the sheriff ’s office only provides,
on average, three-and-a-half deputies
on a shift, 24/7.
“We’ve looked across the country,
and unless you go to third world coun-
tries, you don’t find communities less
policed than rural Lane County. It’s
just astounding,” Lane County Sher-
iff Byron Trapp said in April during
a Dunes City town hall with the Lane
County Sheriff ’s Office, the Florence
Police Department and Oregon State
Troopers. The purpose of the meeting
was to discuss the issues regarding ru-
ral enforcement.
To contract a deputy from the
county to patrol the city would cost
$180,000 a year, and that would not be
with full coverage — that one deputy
would need time off, as well as trips
to Eugene. More deputies would cost
$150,000 a piece. To get that, the city
would most likely have to raise taxes.
The “judge” measure would not go
as far as ensuring 24-hour police pro-
tection, but it would create a legal back-
ground for city violations.
But at Darling’s, the usefulness of
such ordinances seemed out of reach.
While one person stated that they
could see a need for it, others weren’t
so sure.
“What fines? I can go out, pop off 20
rounds with my gun, and nobody will
come up and do something about it.
You got some crazy people, but nobody
shows up. Come on.”
Another person stated that they had
history with city fines, and the experi-
ence was lacking.
“That’s not how we were ap-
proached,” they said. “They told us we
had to pay it or there would be rami-
fications. I mean, they threatened us,
with a lawyer or whatever they were
going to do. It was unpleasant. We paid
up, but I have no use for them now.”
That fight led them to have little to
do with the city over the next years.
And so far, they haven’t noticed a dif-
ference.
“I don’t have a big ‘jump for joy’ as
far as Dunes City. Is it even incorporat-
ed? What’s the benefit of having us be-
ing Dunes City, instead of just being a
county? In reality, we’re county. I don’t
really know what Dunes City does for
us. I don’t see the benefit.”
Measure: 20-295: Five-year local op-
tion tax for city operations. Question:
Shall Dunes City impose $1,215.70
each year for five years for operations
beginning in 2019-2020? This mea-
sure may increase property taxes to
increase more than three percent.
Due to a combination of a de-
cade-old oversight and changing state
regulations, Dunes City could stand
to lose anywhere from $70,000 to
$100,000 annually if 20-295 does not
pass.
The reason goes back to 2007, ac-
cording to Mills. Before that, the state
allowed all cities to collect shared tax
revenue from cigarette, liquor, gas and
other taxes, with no strings attached.
But in 2007, the rules changed, Mills
said. Only cities that had property tax-
es could collect the shared funds. Since
Dunes City never had any property
taxes, it should have been cut off from
the funding.
Except it wasn’t.
“There were differences of opinion
on the future direction of the city,”
Mills told the Siuslaw News in June on
why the rule changed was missed.
Mills stated that 11 years ago, Dunes
City was in a “brutal time” that led to
several city councilors quitting, as well
as much of the city staff.
Running on volunteers, the city was
treading water. The state rule change
went unnoticed by Dunes City. The
state didn’t notice either, so for the past
decade, the city has continued to col-
lect the shared revenue.
The city does not know why it wasn’t
noticed, either by the state or by the
city.
“Not even our auditors saw it, and
they do our books,” Mills said. “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 violation.”
A violation that could cost them the
entire $100,000 a year. The fix to the
problem? Impose a property tax.
Dunes City’s suggested solution is to
create a $.005 tax on property value.
The city believes that the total reve-
nue collected from all of the city’s resi-
dents would be around $1,216.
“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 property tax, so give us the
money our people pay you already.’”
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.
Over the five years, the city plans to
take in $6,078.50 from residents.
While the measure states that it
“may cause property taxes to increase
more than three percent,” it won’t. The
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“three percent” language was legally
required for the measure.
As was pointed out by city council-
ors, there is always a danger of “creep-
ing taxes.” It may start off at half a pen-
ny, but future 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 af-
ter the levy runs out, the city and the
voters reevaluate.
It’s unknown if the city will have to
pay back the taxes it has collected in
violation over the years.
“We are publishing everything,
we’re not being shy about it,” Mills
said. “I suppose they will let us know,
but I’m sure they’re responsible for
also overseeing that we’re doing it cor-
rectly.”
However, it is known that just the
$100,000 annual cut from the city bud-
get would be deep, possibly crippling
the city.
“We’ve been a bedroom commu-
nity for a long time, but the growing
pains are getting evident,” Dunes City
Councilor Duke Wells said in June. “I
don’t like larger government, but at the
same time you have to have livability.
There are more and more people living
in Dunes City. It’s not the same place
that it was.”
But for those at Darling’s restaurant,
Dunes City seemed to be the same
place it always was.
There were no objections to the
amount of the levy, though there were
fears of an incremental rate creep.
“It’s $1 for that one, then $10 for the
next, then up and up,” one person said.
When told that Dunes City will keep
the rate steady, they didn’t believe it.
“Until the next time they decide it’s
not enough,” they answered. “That’s
what governments do.”
And for the person who had grown
weary of the city after arguments over
fines, the idea of funding a city had lost
its luster.
“What does Dunes City for the cit-
izens? The county does most of this.
I mean, they want tax revenue for
something we’re not already getting,
what is that going to help?”
Road repair was a problem that
many at Darling’s brought up. Getting
help in fixing roads was a major issue.
“Our road is private, but depend-
ing on who you talk to, it’s not private.
The county won’t have anything to do
with problems on the road. City goes,
‘That’s not our street.’ County goes,
‘That’s not our street.’ I don’t know.”
When asked if they had spoken to
the city about their issues, they re-
plied, “Not really, I don’t think I want
to get involved with it. I don’t see any
plus. But I love it here.”
Another person stated that they
didn’t know much about Dunes City
at all, even though they had lived here
all their life. In fact, they thought the
city was only recently incorporated,
not knowing it was an actual city since
1963.
“I went to school in Florence, so I
know more about Florence than I do
Dunes City. I live in the Dunes City
area, but I always go to Florence. That’s
the town I know.”
They felt Dunes was more of a sub-
urb of Florence, bereft of any distin-
guishing commercial features like a
Historic Old Town or downtown dis-
trict.
“No stores,” they said. “You wouldn’t
go shopping in Dunes City. You have
to go to Florence to get everything. I’ve
always known Dunes City to be Flor-
ence.”
Would the citizens of Dunes invest
in infrastructure that would make a de-
fining commercial district?
“People would never vote for more
things in this city, with the taxes, if they
try and make themselves like a real
city,” another person said. “It would
cost thousands of dollars a person. I
wouldn’t invest in that.”
All who were spoken to enjoyed liv-
ing in the city, and none expressed a
need to move away. But regarding the
question of whether or not Dunes City
ought to be a city, the Darling’s Mon-
day night restaurant crowd seemed to
think that just being an unincorporat-
ed entity of the county wouldn’t be all
that different from what it is now.
Councilors contend that the city
does make a difference.
City staff attends to local com-
plaints, acting as arbiter in many lo-
cal conflicts. The city holds charity
functions, protects the area from state
overreach and, above all else, makes
laws, which is the one thing that coun-
ty rule could not offer.
In a 2017, Councilor Tom Mallen
talked about the idea of being a city. It
was just after the ban on future com-
mercial grows had been passed.
“... Dunes City is obviously express-
ing an opinion that they don’t want
marijuana here,” he said, summing up
the various and often tense debates re-
garding the issue. “So, it would seem,
just from all this hullabaloo that we’ve
been through, that Dunes City really
wants to be a city.”
It is because Dunes City exists that
local residents can debate an issue like
marijuana, the council believes.
If the area was simply county ruled,
commercial grows would be allowed,
per existing laws. No debate on the is-
sue would be had.
The council fears that by abolishing
Dunes City, residents would lose their
independence, with all rules being
decided by the majority in places like
Eugene. And those who live there have
different lifestyles and values than
those in Dunes City.
It’s the power to debate these issues
locally, and act on its decisions locally,
that makes Dunes City special.
But is that enough to make a city?
The answer to that will be discov-
ered on election day.
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