Police, fire, sewer plant measures face voters.

Byline: Karen McCowan The Register-Guard

Voters in Junction City will be asked to fund jail and police department improvements and a new fire hall Nov. 2, while residents in the city of Brownsville will weigh a proposed sewer plant expansion that could cost a typical homeowner $401 in the peak year of a gradually increasing levy.

New fire hall, police improvements sought

The Junction City Rural Fire Protection District is floating its first-ever bond measure, a 10-year, $2.5 million levy to build a new fire hall with living quarters designed to draw "resident volunteers" to augment the department's paid staff. Fire Chief Carl Perry said the arrangement, long used by other cities, will help the district cope with an increase in calls and a decrease in volunteers able to drop everything and respond to an alarm.

The projected tax rate of 62 cents per $1,000 assessed property valuation would increase taxes by about $93 a year on a home assessed at $150,000.

Residents within the city limits also will face a proposed three-year, $282,000 capital improvement levy for the Junction City Police Department. The projected tax rate of 47 cents per $1,000 assessed property valuation would increase taxes by about $70 a year on a home assessed at $150,000.

The levy would accomplish several things, according to police Chief Ken Hancock. It would devote $150,000 to adding four new patrol cars to the department's aging fleet and placing external heart defibrillators in each vehicle and at the police station. The city now has only three "patrol-worthy" cars, Hancock said, meaning off-duty officers can no longer drive patrol cars home and quickly respond when on-duty officers call for assistance.

"Being at the northern tip of the county, we have to depend on ourselves quite a bit to take care of back-up," Hancock said.

It also would spend $72,000 on improvements to the city's four-bed jail, now two windowless cells each containing bunk beds and a toilet. For decades, the jail was used primarily to house inmates serving short sentences for minor crimes, Hancock said.

"But as Lane County's ability to lodge prisoners has eroded, we are prosecuting some Class C felonies as misdemeanors to make sure the perpetrators get jail time," he said. "We're seeing prisoners stay for longer and longer periods of time."

For that reason, the city wants to improve the jail to meet national corrections accreditation standards. For instance, it plans to add skylights so some natural light reaches the cells where inmates sometimes spend weeks or even months. It also may place a television screen where inmates can watch it.

"There's a certain amount of humanity to it," Hancock said. "But one of the things we're learning is that we also need ways to control prisoners' behavior. When they're pounding on the wall, and yelling and screaming in the cell, disrupting our dispatch, we need to have something to take away."

The levy also would repair and upgrade jail surveillance equipment; reconfigure work space within the agency, where officers now share a single computer work station; purchase stun guns and police uniforms; equip a new volunteer search and rescue team; and add an alarm and surveillance system for the department's evidence room.

Brownsville floats sewer bond

In Brownsville, city officials are asking voters to approve a 40-year, $7.5 million general obligation bond to finance a major wastewater treatment plant update. The project is necessary because Brownsville is under state order to come into compliance with Department of Environmental Quality wastewater discharge standards, City Manager David Clyne said.

"Probably the biggest problem we have is storm water infiltration" into the sanitary sewer lines, he said. "Our flows increase 11-fold in the winter, swamping our plant."

Officials have sought to reduce the immediate impact on taxpayers by spreading the bond measure over as much as 40 years and proposing a graduated assessment plan that begins at $2.93 cents per thousand dollars of assessed valuation in 2005-06 and peaks at $5.73 cents per thousand in 2008-09 before tapering downward.

"What we're advising people is that in fact we are under order to do this, and we think we've put together the best financial plan," he said.

He said the graduated plan would generate about $205 in taxes the first year on a typical Brownsville home assessed at $70,000, peaking at $401 in 2008-09.

Should taxpayers reject the measure, the city could be forced to expand the plant under a 20-year DEQ financing plan, Clyne said.

It also would lose federal matching funds which are part of the bond package on the Nov. 2 ballot. Under those scenarios, the yearly tax burden to property owners for the improvements could double.

Measure number: 20-89

What it would do: Authorize a three-year, $282,000 capital improvement levy in Junction City to fund new police cars and equipment, update police department and jail

Argument in favor: Patrol car fleet is aging; four police officers now share one computer work station; jail needs improvements to house prisoners longer term

Contact: 998-1245

Argument against: No organized opposition; passage would add $70 a year for three years to the taxes on a home assessed at $150,000

Measure number: 20-93

What it would do: Authorize the Junction City Rural Fire Protection District to issue $2.5 million in general obligation bonds to construct a new 16,660-square-foot fire station

Argument in favor: The fire department, which covers an increasing population stretching from the Coast Range to the Willamette River, has outgrown the former city fire hall; the new facility would include sleeping quarters to attract live-in volunteers

Contact: 998-1245

Argument against: No organized opposition; approval of the measure would increase taxes for 10 years by about $93 a year on a $150,000 home

Measure number: 22-30

What it would do: Authorize Brownsville to issue $7.5 million in general obligation bonds to finance a major upgrade of its wastewater treatment plant

Argument in favor: The city is under state order to comply with wastewater discharge standards; this plan uses a graduated taxation plan to spread the cost over 40 years

Contact: [phone]

Argument against: No organized opposition; passage would increase taxes by $2.93 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation in 2005-06 and gradually increase, peaking at $5.93 per $1,000 in 2008-09 before tapering downward; estimated cost for a typical Brownsville home assessed at $70,000 would be $205 in 2005-06, increasing to $401 in 2008-09