The Josephine County Sheriff’s Department is searching for a new way to create stability after years of being underfunded. The proposed taxing district would cover all of Josephine County except for Grants Pass.
The property tax rate would increase by 99 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. It could only be changed by a vote of the people.
Josephine County Sheriff Dave Daniel says he is trying to find permanent funding for his department.
Erik Neumann / JPR
At a Board of Commissioners meeting on Wednesday, Cave Junction City Councilor Jean Ann Miles said councilors supported the proposal because citizens need law enforcement to address ongoing concerns about illegal cannabis.
“We have a lot of grows out in our area and a lot of cartels and a lot of people that would do us harm if we did not have sufficient law enforcement,” she said.
Last November, Josephine County voters rejected a 3% seasonal sales tax, which would have permanently funded the department.
Funding from the American Rescue Plan Act is helping support the department currently.
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During the Wednesday meeting, Sheriff Dave Daniel said his ultimate goal is finding stable income for his department.
“Now’s the time. Let’s fix this once and for all. It gives us a base of funding that establishes stability for our law enforcement,” he said.
The taxing district will next be considered at a Board of Commissioners public hearing. The decision would ultimately head to voters for approval in November.
It is expected to raise raise over $5.5 million in its first year, $5.8 million in its second year and $6 million in its third year.
Daniel said most of that money would go toward funding patrol operations at the sheriff’s office, including 30 deputies, 6.5 dispatchers and 1.5 evidence techs.
If Josephine County voters approve the taxing district in November, it would take effect immediately and be permanent, unless it was appealed through a formal process.
The district would be governed by a district board, which would be a separate governing entity, although the county Board of Commissioners would ultimately be in charge. A citizens advisory committee would also advise the district board.
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The sheriff’s department has dealt with staffing shortages for years, the result of decreased funding from federal timber payments and low property taxes. Josephine County’s property tax rate is only 58 cents per $1,000, one of the lowest in the state, and Oregon residents also do not pay sales tax.
“I think we’re at the end of a rope. And we’re still about 50 feet short of the bottom of the canyon,” Commissioner Dan DeYoung said Wednesday.
In 2012, Josephine County residents did not approve a $12 million levy, leading to sheriff’s deputies being laid off and jail inmates being released. A 2019 report about law enforcement in the county showed that after that vote failed, the number of concealed carry permits in the county doubled, and the drug crime rate increased to roughly three times the state’s rate.