Document text
Josephine County voters said no to a public safety levy Tuesday for the fourth time since 2012. This time, the margin was 54 to 46 percent. The proposed five-year levy of $1.40 per $1,000 of assessed property value would have raised about $9 million a year to restore patrols, add capacity to the county jail and reopen the detention unit and shelter at the shuttered Juvenile Justice Center. The language and tax rate were the result of a survey commissioned by a local organization called Community United for Safety, which gathered signatures to place the measure on the ballot. Scott Draper, a spokesman for the group, in a prepared statement, said that the organization respects the vote of the people and he thanked those who supported the group's effort. "We most importantly want to thank all those who voted, whether in favor or against," Draper said. "It is the exercising of this right to be heard that makes our country and our county great." A group called We're for a Constitutional Government actively campaigned against the levy. "I'm glad the people of the county could see through the smoke and mirrors of the other side," said Jim Rafferty, a founder of We're for a Constitutional Government. Various local groups have campaigned on behalf of three other public safety levies since 2012, when federal subsidies were so meager the county had to make widespread layoffs at the Sheriff’s Office, the Juvenile Justice Center and the District Attorney’s Office. Tuesday’s defeat was by the widest margin since 2012 when a proposed $1.99 per $1,000 levy failed 57 to 43 percent. One consequence was a reduced capacity at the Josephine County Jail. Subsequently, Grants Pass officials for the past two years have carved out about $1 million each year to lease jail beds from the county in an effort to curtail crime in the city. The city may be forced to repeat that. “We’re going to go to work on solving our jail bed issue,” Grants Pass Mayor Darin Fowler said, in the aftermath of the vote. “We want to make sure the county is amicable to renting more beds” Fowler said city officials will also look into creating its own municipal court and will hire more police officers to “make sure city streets are safe.” Fowler also lamented the recently announced two-year extension of the federal county payment program. The first year will bring the county $4.6 million and the second will be $4.3 million. At one time the county received more than $12 million annually in county payments, which were designed to replace declining revenue from timber sales on federal land. “We thought, as a city, that this had a chance to pass countywide until the federal government came through with their county payments,” Fowler said. “We thought that undermined our efforts.” The levy would have boosted county government’s woeful financial situation, but its failure won’t affect how county officials proceed with budget talks, which are under way, because no money from the levy was included in their projections. “We will continue with what we have to do,” Commission Chairman Keith Heck said. “The people have spoken.” Reach reporter Jim Moore at 541-474-3721 or [email protected].