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--> --> Residents may get the chance to vote on more tax money from the sale of meals in Ashland to fund open space and trails, while sending less to the treatment plant and increasing fees and sewer rates. Ashland Daily Tidings/DENISE BARATTA Panel urges parks vote By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings The Ashland City Council will have the task of deciding whether to send a ballot measure before voters that would shift tax revenues and increase fees to fund future purchases of parks, open spaces and trails. On Monday night, the Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the council put the parks funding measure up for a public vote. "It's a good initial step to see if the voters really are supportive of more open space and trails," Commissioner Sally Jones said. The measure would increase the portion of the city's prepared meals and beverage tax now allocated for parks from 20 percent to 40 percent. The meals tax, approved by voters in 1993, is five cents per dollar on restaurant bills. The change in allocation would bring in an estimated $3 million to fund land purchases. Although the meals tax is not set to expire until 2010, future receipts from the current 20 percent parks allocation already are committed to fund past land purchases. The remaining 80 percent of the meals tax now goes to the city's wastewater treatment plant. To offset losses in funding for the treatment plant by shifting the tax allocation, the commission recommended raising sewer rates by 15 percent. Commissioner Rick Landt said the average household would pay another $3 per month in increased sewer rates. The commission also recommended increasing park system development charges by 30 percent. System development charges are applied to cover costs imposed on public infrastructure and services by new construction. That increase would bring in an extra $56,000 a year, according to City Finance Director Lee Tuneberg. Those funding mechanisms - combined with grants, donations and other creative land acquisition strategies - would be enough to fund the park commission's newly adopted 10-year Parks, Trails and Open Space Plan, according to Landt. The plan identifies properties for potential acquisition, including land for neighborhood parks, athletic fields and numerous trail segments. It was crafted using input garnered during public meetings and commissioner visits with community groups. But without new funding, the acquisitions plan cannot be fulfilled, according to Landt. "That's really meaningless unless there's a means of acquiring the property on the list," he said. The parks funding measure was drafted by a committee that included parks commissioners, city councilors, a city budget committee member and representatives of the business community. The committee decided against seeking additional funding for development and maintenance of any new park land that is purchased. "The committee felt it had a much better chance of getting these properties if it didn't get into those issues," said Councilor Don Laws, a member of the committee. Laws suggested that development and maintenance could be funded through such methods as extending the meals tax past 2010. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing