City voters to decide jail, police funding.

Byline: Jack Moran The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - City police have enough officers to arrest the people who belong behind bars.

The trouble is, most criminal offenders in Springfield aren't spending much time in jail after they're nabbed. Budget shortages have left the Lane County jail understaffed, creating a situation where 88 percent of those arrested and booked by Springfield officers are released from custody within 24 hours. Ninety-nine percent are back on the streets within two days.

"We're not going to change the crime rate if people are not held accountable," Springfield Police Chief Jerry Smith said. "We have to change the outcomes."

That's the goal of ballot Measure 20-112.

Smith believes that if city voters next month approve the measure, Springfield - which has one of the highest property crime rates in Oregon - will start to see results.

The measure's purpose is twofold. More than two-thirds of the taxes to be raised through the five-year levy would fund eight police officer positions and 12 other jobs in the police department and municipal court. Those positions are now funded through a levy approved by 56 percent of city voters in 2002, which expires next year.

The remaining revenue generated through the levy would be used to fund operations of a municipal jail. The planned downtown facility would open in 2010 to house misdemeanor-level offenders that the county jail can't accommodate.

"The (Springfield) jail is critical for making the community better," Smith said. "Without it, the police are spinning their wheels, by and large."

Taxes would cover nearly half the cost of running the 100-bed city jail. The balance would be raised through charging inmates for time spent behind bars, leasing jail beds to other jurisdictions for their use, and other methods. Voters have already approved funding to build the jail.

The proposed levy would cost the owner of a home assessed at $150,000 about $164 a year. That same homeowner now pays $99 annually for police staffing, under the 2002 measure.

The new five-year tax would begin in July 2008 and remain in effect through June 2013. The delayed start would relieve Springfield property owners of paying any tax for city police services from July 2007 through June 2008.

The city can afford to postpone the tax because a portion of revenue collected from the 2002 measure has gone unspent during the past four years. The savings occurred as a result of vacancies in the police department over that time, coupled with the fact that it took the city several months to hire trained officers after the levy was approved, Finance Director Bob Duey said.

Delaying the onset of the new tax would give city officials an extra year to identify a permanent funding source for operating the jail.

If voters reject the November measure, the city might opt not to build the jail, and officials would have to find another way to pay for police and court jobs now funded through the property tax levy that's set to expire next year.

About the only public opponent of the measure is Springfield resident Curtiss Greer. He says he supports police and the concept of a city jail, but believes that city leaders should have worked harder to identify other funding sources that would have kept the proposed tax rate lower. Greer says most voters are unaware that part of the tax revenue would be used to pay so-called "indirect charges" for the jail that include city payroll services and human resources services. Other city departments are also charged for those activities.

Before deciding on the tax measure, the Springfield City Council explored other financial options. One of those strategies involved a utility tax, but voters overturned that in May 2005.

About 44 percent of Springfield residents surveyed by phone last year said they would support a renewal levy for police services, as well as a separate measure instituting a new property tax to run the jail. The survey did not ask residents if they would support a combined police/jail levy.

Lane County in November is asking voters to approve an income tax that would, among other things, allow the county to open about 180 additional jail beds. But county officials say even if their measure is approved, they would consider leasing space from a Springfield city jail because more beds would still be needed.

MEASURE 20-112

What it would do: Raise more than $18 million over five years to fund police and municipal jail operations.

Details: More than two-thirds of revenue generated through the property tax levy would fund 20 positions in the police department and municipal court. The remaining funding would cover a portion of costs associated with operating a city jail.

What it would cost you: Springfield property owners would pay $1.09 per $1,000 assessed property value. The owner of a home assessed at $150,000 would pay about $164 annually. The tax would begin in July 2008 and run through June 2013.