Grants Pass residents are expected to get their first look at a proposed new sales tax Tuesday.
The city tax is expected to be a little less than 2 percent. But it could produce enough money to allow the city to reopen a Grants Pass detention center and stop paying for beds elsewhere.
The sheriff’s office and other city services have been hit hard by dwindling federal timber subsidies.
City Councilor Roy Lindsay says Josephine County has one of the lowest property tax rates in Oregon. But county voters have blocked increases four times over the last three years.
“Every time the city has voted for the levy. The county has not," said Lindsay.
"There’s more residents in the county than there are in the city. The city council is saying, 'OK. We have to do something. The residents of Grants Pass want this protection. And they deserve it.' ”
The City Council is expected to vote sometime over the next two weeks, whether to put the proposed tax on the November ballot.