May vote will decide Springfield jail funding.

Byline: Jack Moran The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - Could former Gov. John Kitzhaber's decision not to seek election this year jeopardize the city's effort to pass a tax measure in May to fund the operation of a municipal jail?

Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken, for one, believes Kitzhaber's recent announcement that he will not challenge incumbent Ted Kulongoski for the state's governorship will affect turnout in the primary election. And that could spell trouble for Springfield's jail operations measure, because even if a majority of voters supports a property tax levy, state law requires that at least 50 percent of those who receive ballots in the city actually vote during a May election.

`I just don't think you're going to get a double majority in May without Kitzhaber running,' Leiken said Monday night during a meeting in which city councilors agreed to send the jail funding issue to voters this spring.

Despite his doubts about voter interest in the primary election, Leiken agreed Monday with the City Council to campaign vigorously during the next three-plus months for the jail measure, which would institute a temporary property tax to pay for the staffing of a city lockup.

"It's going to have to be the campaign itself that brings people out to vote," Leiken said.

Details of the proposed levy are still being worked out. In order to raise the estimated $2.4 million it would cost annually to run a jail, voters will be faced with a measure that costs the owner of a home assessed at $150,000 anywhere from $48 to $130 per year, according to information presented Monday to the City Council.

Following nearly an hour of discussion on the topic in which opinions were mixed, councilors nixed an idea to combine the jail measure with renewal of an existing levy that funds eight city police officer positions and municipal court staffers. Council President John Woodrow initially supported tying together the two issues, saying he figured it would be "an easier sell" to voters that way.

"It's my opinion that if we put jail funding and the police levy together in May, we stand a better chance" of gaining approval, Woodrow said before agreeing with a majority of the council to separate the tax measures.

As it stands now, renewal of the police-staffing levy will be on the November ballot, alongside a measure that allows the city to maintain fire engine crews in each of the city's five stations. Both issues were supported by voters in 2002.

If the jail measure is unsuccessful in May, the City Council discussed possibly bringing it back for the November election, when it would compete with several other local tax issues.

"Yes, the ballot will be crowded in November, so heaven help we won't have to go out" and try a second time to get the jail measure passed, Councilor Christine Lundberg said.

"It's a tough sell no matter what we do and how we do it," she added.

More than 400 Springfield residents were polled last October about their level of support for a new tax to staff a jail. About one-third of respondents indicated support for a levy that would cost $115 annually for the owner of a home assessed at $150,000, while 44 percent said they would likely support a tax that would cost that same homeowner $85 per year.

Councilors on Monday asked city Finance Director Bob Duey to study the possibility of instituting a fee on business licenses to cover some of the costs of running a jail, which would decrease the amount of funding the city would need to obtain from property owners.

The public will get a chance to speak out on the jail funding measure during the City Council's Feb. 6 meeting.

Springfield voters in 2004 approved construction of a jail as part of a $28.7 million municipal justice center that will also house a new police station and municipal courtrooms. Groundbreaking for the downtown justice center is scheduled for this fall. The City Council on Thursday will discuss siting options for the facility.