Lane County's financial problems are large and complex.

Rob Handy, is a man with a high school education who mows lawns for a living. There is nothing wrong with that, but it's not a background that has prepared him to balance hundreds of millions of dollars, complex financial decisions, and competing legal mandates. Should the county dip farther into it's meager reserves at the risk of adversely effecting it's bond rating? Which would cost more and why? Why have DA and Sheriff operations been slashed over the last thirty years while human services funding has remained comparatively stable, and why can't that money be moved around? Why can't Lane County's property tax base be fixed? Handy is absolutely clueless. My twelve year old daughter looked at me with surprise and said, "He didn't answer the question... doesn't he know?" No, he doesn't know, and he doesn't have the tools or inclination to figure it out.

His recent debate highlighted just how comprehensive his ignorance is. He couldn't even identify the highest priority county services. He doesn't understand the county budget, or the most threatening and challenging influences. I'm not talking about the little minutia. Handy doesn't even understand the big stuff -- the central challenges of the executive job he seeks. Why can't property taxes can't solve the county financial problems? Why does Lane County get less than all the other populous counties? In short, he knows NOTHING about the substance or origins of the county fiscal problems, nothing about the public safety crisis, and nothing about how to fix any of them.

He has a nice smile, and he spends a lot of time walking, nodding and smiling -- a luxury of having no kids, a job that isn't demanding and no other significant commitments. He has nothing better to do than walk abound town with the political cause of the day.

Bobby Green is a fine man. I don't agree with everything he has done, but I agree with most of it, and I know why he made the few choices I didn't support. He made reasoned decisions and he followed his conscience. His biggest challenge is the fact that the citizens don't understand the challenges, though most of them probably understand them better than Rob Handy does.

Nice smile just isn't enough. Rob Handy is completely ignorant. He would be a DISASTER for Lane County. I hope the citizens are not THAT poorly informed.

So I guess these college educated professionals that are running the county now know what they are doing ????   hello ????  how do you think we got in this mess  to begin with ?  open your eyes and look around, maybe he doesnt have a college education and maybe he doesnt know alot about the "big stuff" but neither do the people that are in charge now!!!  May be we need to hire someone who agrees to get paid less and is a little less humble that wants to at least try to resolve the issues instead of the big fat wallet carrying guys that believe they are so high and mighty that we should be paying them for showing up and gracing us with their presense. Maybe they are the ones that should be mowing the lawns, they might be able to do that job without screwing up someones flowerbed, wait a minute....... they them do your lawn first before you send them to my neighborhood.      

Ugh. This is the kind of ignorant response that I've come to expect from Lane County residents. We have some of this in Deschutes County too, but it doesn't dominate the political landscape like it does in Eugene.

"Wanting to resolve the issues" isn't the test. Everybody wants to resolve them. The question is who has the tools, intellectual and otherwise, to solve the problems.

Those who are uninformed tend to leave every unsolved problem at the foot of the politicians "in charge". The great irony here is that Lane County is in this financial jamb because an earlier groups of County Commissioners, none of whom are still involved, kept your tax rates DOWN. They chose that path because they were fiscally conservative and the timber money met the county needs.

Then the voters enacted property tax limitations. Still no real problem in Lane County, because the timber money was still flowing and the county could absorb some cuts without devastation. But economies only go so far.

Then the population increased as the state of California moved north. And crime increased. The system was stressed in every sector as the county population grew during the late 80s and early 90s.

Then the federal forests were shut down, the timber money went away and Lane County was left with a declining federal handout ("Secure Rural Schools") that could not grow with the economy and the population. This set up the dynamic generally referred to as "the structural deficit". The county has only two choices after economies have been thoroughly exhausted: 1) increase revenue, or 2) Decrease services.

As predicted, county costs increased and revenue growth failed to match costs so, for 14 of the last 17 years, Lane County has lost employee positions and reduced services. Since approximately 70% of the general fund is spent on public safety, most of the cuts have to be absorbed by public safety. That's what has been happening for most of the last 27 years.

By the time Bobby Green became a commissioner this pattern was already long-established (16 years worth?). In fact, as others have pointed out, if EVERY county general fund dollar, the only money the commissioners control, was applied to public safety (thereby eliminating Assessment and Taxation, Human Resources, Elections, County Counsel, Payroll, Administration and the small contribution to Health and Human Services) it wouldn't free up enough money to bring Lane County anywhere near average law enforcement staffing. You'd still be near the worst in the USA, with the terrible crime rates you've come to accept as "normal". Well, the commissioners can't eliminate the Elections Department, and state law requires the county to perform almost all of the other services that are remaining. At almost 13 to 1, Lane County already has the highest line-worker to supervisor ratio in the state (most supervisor positions already eliminated). Some departments, like Human Resources, have literally HALF the employees doing the job being done by the City of Eugene and other Oregon cities and counties of similar size. Yes, the citizens would like to see the county pay it's law enforcement staff even less, but that darn law keeps getting in the way. First, law enforcement personnel are entitled to binding arbitration because Oregon law prevents them from striking. Every time the county gets taken to arbitration the county looses, because Lane is already providing lower pay and benefits than any of it's comparable jurisdictions in the northwest. Even at the present pay rate the county law enforcement employees continue to bail out to work for anybody else. (More money, better benefits, closer back-up officers and a community that actually likes cops. Hmmm.)

Anybody who has rolled up her/his sleeves and LOOKED at the county budget realizes that the real solution is not within the control of the county commissioners. That's why there have been 14 failed efforts at public safety levies -- each advanced by a different board of county commissioners, and each killed by a public convinced that there is hidden money somewhere, notwithstanding all the evidence to the contrary.

Each new batch of politicians gets into office with a new promise to do more with less. Then they learn that your county has been doing more with less for almost 30 years of cuts. You have 500 jail beds when most jurisdictions your size have over 1200, and you can't even use the few you have. You have HALF the nationally recommended number or probation officers.
Your DA's office is the worst-staffed in Oregon, and Oregon is at the bottom of most public safety staffing rates: The Lane DA has lost 10 of 11 investigators since 1981, and 7 of 29 Deputy DAs have been laid off while the serious crime volume has increased 240%. Just to be average for Oregon your DA would have to hire 10 more Deputy DAs, 6 more investigators and more Deputy Medical Examiners, support enforcement agents, paralegals and support staff. Double all those numbers if you'd like to be average for the country.

Sadly, as bad as those numbers are, they're not in a league with the devastation suffered by the Lane County Sheriff. He's now down to two detectives to handle nearly three times the major crime volume that was managed by 18 detectives in 1981. By my math, that's about 27 times the workload per detective today, so the work doesn't get done. Considering the number of murder and rape cases that office is working, these statistics are terrible, and they're getting worse.

I assumed Lane County had hit bottom in 2004 when it earned the distinction of "lowest per-capita police staffing in the entire USA" (even with the inclusion of the officers from Eugene and Springfield.) Then they lost more staff. Then the timber money went away.

There is more money in the Lane County budget, but none that can be touched by the commissioners, so they're stuck looking for new revenue. That has been the conclusion of EVERY new board of county commissioners, and every auditing body for almost 30 years. The only people who disagree are those who haven't seen the real numbers or don't understand them.

Enter Rob Handy. He walks a lot. He's everything to everybody. He's got plenty of humility, and plenty to be humble about. And that's about it. He's done nothing to prepare himself for the job of county commissioner. He hasn't bothered to read the county budgets, and he probably doesn't have the intellectual horsepower to understand them even if he did.

I have nothing against folks who don't go to college, but I don't ask them to do surgery on my kids and I don't ask them for complex financial advice.

Teamplayer explained the Lane County financial detail in a neighboring thread. It makes perfect sense to anybody who wants to become informed.

Bobby Green and I differ on many things, but I greatly appreciate the courage it took to stand for taxes when it was the only responsible solution. He knew doing so would place him at risk and he did it anyway because, he said, "Leaders have to lead." He's right. Pandering doesn't get the job done. Unfortunately, it does tend to get people elected. That explains why you have a continuous string of new commissioners, each promising creative new solutions that are quite literally fiscally impossible. Then, after a couple years in office and several hundred hours of education at the feet of lawyers and accountants, they realize that the leadership that preceded them was fairly competent, and they make similar suggestions. (That's how you end up with 14 ballot measures to fund government in 27 years). Once again, there's always a new dumb-dumb in the wings promising the impossible, and your citizens are just ignorant to buy it. After all, it's easy to assume there's plenty of money and it's all being wasted. Never mind that the entire Lane County General fund wouldn't even be enough to fund a decent Sheriff's office.

Well, the timber counties are getting some of the federal timber money back. You watch. Your citizens will confuse the whole mess again. Lane County got to LAST place in the USA (and one of the worst crime rates) with 100% of the timber money in place. The federal bail-out includes timber funding at 90% -- a loss of $4 million -- so most Lane County citizens will figire you're okay now. You just watch. Nobody will be smart enough to say, "Wait...we were drowning with ALL the federal money...how can we make do with only 90% of it?" Then it drops another $6 million, and another $6 million, until it's about 40% of what is was back when the county couldn't even hold ground when it was in last place in the USA."

And somehow, some way, the idiot citizens will blame the leadership -- probably whichever leaders are most honest with them. If history is any indication, the politicians who continue to lie and pander will be handsomely rewarded with reelection. Even from a distance that place is frustrating.

I saw Mr. Handy questioned about his opposition to the West Eugene Parkway the voters approved. He waffled around without answering the question at all. He did everything but deny that was his position. I was disappointed that he was so reluctant to take credit for helping to kill the parkway project. It's one of the few things I know he's done.

I opposed that parkway because I was concerned about damage to wetlands. Mr. Handy could have just said that, or really anything that answered the question, but he spun himself around until he appeared confused and evasive.

I don't understand why so many of the progressive politicians are supporting Mr. Handy. (Like Kitty Piercy and Peter Sorenson.) The only things they appear to have in common are the anti-parkway position (that's old news and already won), and the anti-large-business line. Handy is also anti-public safety funding, but that is not true of Kitty, no matter what the hard-right says about her. She's consistently advocated for solutions to Lane County's funding issues and she supports adequate funding for the sheriff, D.A. and county juvenile system.

Sorenson usually votes against supporting public safety, so he's aligned with Handy on that, but that's all I can see, and that's hardly a basis for political partnership. Green has promoted progress in many other areas Sorenson calls his priorities (like job growth, investment in protecting our infrastructure, children and minorities, and he's working to assist crime victims. Commissioner Green is also credited with helping to recover partial federal support for the lost timber dollars. (Green and Commissioner Stewart made many trips back to Washington to advocate for the federal support and secure additional help for WIC and other important federal programs.) All that seems much more important than the only disagreement (Green's active support for law enforcement funding he considers essential to providing a safe environment for our kids.)

Something else must be going on here, but I can't see it. I actually stopped by the county offices four times over the last three months to catch Commissioner Sorenson for a brief visit, but he's almost never there. I visited in early morning before work once, before lunch once and in mid-afternoon twice. Stewart was there every time, Green was there twice, and Dwyer was there twice (and he's OLD!). They were all very accessible. Commissioner Fleenor apparently has an office in Florence, but he was there once too. Apparently, it's nearly impossible to catch Commissioner Sorenson at work. Also very disappointing, because he's the one who is supposed to be the advocate for social issues. Staff were either unwilling or unable to provide any times when a citizen might catch Commissioner Sorenson for a visit. Something's up. I can't imaging his normal work schedule has him out of the office 90% of the time.

I've been walking and talking to my constituents. Since I've lost the primary!?!
I've been told that my name was not on the ballot

Most of the constituents informed me that they can't stand the lies of Mr. Handy is feeding them Some people told me that Mr. Handy didn't know how to answer their question regarding, the budget crisis in Lane County?

Most people said they either didn't vote in the primary for Handy, and they didn't know I was in the race So they voted for Bobby Green instead


--
Salaam. nadia

I'm running as a write in for Lane County Commissioner: Because I was cheated in the primary. My name was not on the ballots!?! It happened under the watch of "Mayor for all" & the "progressive" elected officials.

I'll appreciate your help, financial support, endorsement, VOTES.

www.nadiasindi.110mb.com

http://nadiasindi.blogspot.com/

I am the Oregon Representative for:
www.studentloanjustice.Org

We will forget and forgive any judgment error that you make, but integrity mistakes are forever.
-- David Cottrell

Nadia, it's a shame that you were prevented from getting on the ballot, but a write-in campaign has exactly ZERO chance of winning. None. You'd set a record if you got 5% of the vote, and you need over 50%.

Given that, the best you can hope for is a role in helping the community and positioning yourself for the next race. Please don't take on the role of "spoiler"... it sounds like you don't want that.

Mr. Handy got more votes than Commissioner Green during the primary because of an anomaly: Democrats turned out almost 77% of the votes, while Republicans turned out just over 50% (because there was little left to contest in the republican primary, as McCain had already won.) Green gets bi-partisan support, but Handy's support comes primarily from the more extreme left because of his anti-public-safety views and others. That means a heavy bi-partisan turn-out for the general election should strongly favor Green's more balanced, moderate positions...BUT IT'S GOING TO BE VERY CLOSE. A few hundred protest/write-in votes could well make the difference.

Since you can't win this time, please do what you can to protect your community from Mr. Handy. He may well be the biggest threat the community has seen since Peter Sorenson, and that guy has done enormous damage over the years...

The next county commission will be charged with steering us to a new revenue source to replace the declining timber payments and the rest of the enormous revenue shortfall. If the commissioners are not successful in finding new revenue to supplement the timber money your law enforcement system will continue it's collapse, and you already crossed the line into "worst-staffed in the United States" in 2004. With your crime problem that's a terrible place to be.

Halo, I've only been on these KMTR blogs for a little while, but I have you figured out.

 You say that you left Lane Co. because you could not stand the politics that go no here. But you can't  keep your nose out of our business. If you could not stay here and help to solve the problems that we face, why do you have to keep butting in to our business???

You have stated that you are now in Descheuits(sp) Co. Have you been to Crooked River Gourge?? It is an awsome crack in the earth. Why don't you go there and take a flying leap ?

I you can't stand to stay here and help, then just bug out !!!!

I left because I could. Unfortunately, my daughter and grandson are stuck there, and I worry about them, so I try to help by sharing information that would motivate any reasonable person to investigate and then act.

It's a terribly demoralizing effort, as I keep encountering transplants like yourself who are determined to remain ignorant. That's the thing that is so amazing to me. In the midst of activism-USA nobody bothers to wonder why the crime rate in Eugene continues to get worse, while the crime rates in Portland and Salem actually improved slightly over the last two years.

Here's the great irony of the moment. Ballot Measures 57 and 61 are going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The vast majority of "progressives" in Eugene will vote "no" on both of them, because they haven't bothered to become informed -- so they don't realize that polling shows both passing by a significant margin. The only responsible course for an informed progressive is "yes" on 57 and "no" on 61, a point eloquently explained by two speakers on KLCC last week, as only the measure with the most votes will become law: That means the only way to beat 61 is to make sure 57 has more votes. Eugene wont get it.

Here's the other irony. Regardless of which measure prevails, Eugene will suffer all of the costs while reaping few of the benefits, because your criminal justice system has been gutted to the point where it doesn't function. You can't hold the vast majority of criminals these measures are talking about. You can't even keep measure 11 criminals in custody long enough to get them tried and sentenced. Never mind the forgers and drug dealers, because you have nowhere to put them. And there will be no sanction for those criminals who decline participation in the drug treatment, as you have no cops left to serve the arrest warrants and no jail beds to hold the criminals even if you did!

busymom:

So I guess these college educated professionals that are running the county now know what they are doing ???? hello ???? how do you think we got in this mess to begin with ? open your eyes and look around, maybe he doesnt have a college education and maybe he doesnt know alot about the "big stuff" but neither do the people that are in charge now!!! May be we need to hire someone who agrees to get paid less and is a little less humble that wants to at least try to resolve the issues instead of the big fat wallet carrying guys that believe they are so high and mighty that we should be paying them for showing up and gracing us with their presense. Maybe they are the ones that should be mowing the lawns, they might be able to do that job without screwing up someones flowerbed, wait a minute....... they them do your lawn first before you send them to my neighborhood.

None of the present commissioners has anything to do with the situation we're in now. That mold was cast in the 1980s when former boards let our marginal county property tax rate fall behind all the other counties. At the time it made sense and was supported by the citizens, but citizens expect their politicians to be better at fortune-telling.

This board of commissioners is the fourth or fifth one to try to fix the Lane County revenue shortage. Costs have been dramatically cut. They have the most line-workers per supervisor in the state, total employee compensation has been held well below market for every county employee union but one (AFSCME), and the county was responsible for the successful lawsuit PERS to reduce pension costs (Green, Dwyer and Sorenson were on the county board that authorized that lawsuit, and that’s what caused the eventual collapse of the PERS program and it’s replacement with the new, cheaper program. At this point, and for the last fifteen years, the only way to balance the budget is to eliminate positions, so that’s what they’ve been doing. The county has lost hundreds of positions in departments across the county while service demand has sharply increased. Nothing but additional taxes will allow the county to hire employees to provide the services county citizens demand but don’t want to pay for. As Commissioner Dwyer told the media several years ago, "Everybody wants the tax the other guy pays."

That's why there have been 14 failed attempts at Lane County tax levies over the last twenty years, and the county has eliminated positions in 14 of the last sixteen years.

But most citizens don’t follow the county budget process. Amazingly, the citizens assume Lane County should be able to "get by like all the other counties do". They don't realize that most Oregon counties are struggling with extremely low revenue when compared with their counterparts in other states. They don’t realize that Lane County gets a small fraction of the tax revenue per citizen that the other Oregon metro counties spend, because Lane County Commissioners didn't raise the tax rate when they had the independent authority to do so.

Lane citizens don't understand that present general fund revenue wouldn't be enough to fund law enforcement at even 1975 levels even if the commissioners used every dollar in the general fund. (eliminating elections, A&T, Computer Services, Human Resources, etc, etc.)

Since the citizens don't understand the source of the problem they just keep blaming the folks they assume to be responsible. Sadly, their ultimate response is to try to get rid of the politicians who have been most visible in trying to fix the problem, and those are the ones exercising leadership during times of crisis. Instead, as the crisis deepens, we're going to trade intelligent, experienced commissioners for new ones who have none of the skills necessary to help.

It seems extremely odd, but I guess it's a common pattern.

I'll repeat my standard funding suggestion: First, eliminate (totally) ALL property taxes, Second, replace them with an income tax or sales tax, which are both broadbased revenue sources. The standard reply I get to this proposal is, "They have tried to pass Sales Taxes a dozen times, and failed, people do not want a sales tax."  No, what people do not want is ANOTHER tax. I voted NO for every sales tax proposal for the last twenty years, and I will vote NO the next time. UNLESS they were REPLACING a tax with the sales tax.

I'd like to see a diversified tax system. A sales tax should be part of it, because there should be some way to capture revenue from the students, tourists, aliens and others who pass through here without taxation.

I would not want to see property tax eliminated, but I think it should be reduced. The advantage of a diversified package of taxes is the ability to roll with the ups and downs of the economy and other influences. Under the present structure it's always feast or famine. One year the legislature has to spend $800,000 to return "kicker checks" because the revenue far exceeded projections, and the next they're meeting to slash all state programs, because the revenue is so far below projections. That's the nature of being disproportionately dependent on income tax. Our property tax is problematic too, as we don't capture the tax based on the real value of the property. Our house almost doubled in assessed value over nine years and our property tax increased less than 30%, because the rate of increase is limited by several factors. (I'm not complaining about that :) Still, it means the government revenue for essential services lags long behind the economy except to the extent that it is recovered from income tax and THAT revenue isn't shared with the local governments that provide all essential services and some education funding through property taxes.

Other states have blended a collection of taxes that produce a more reliable and recession-proof income stream. That provides stability and saves money over the long haul.

Here's another thing. Weighting so heavily on property taxes really hurts the elderly. My mom is on a fixed income. Her house is paid off, but her property taxes now exceed the cost of her former mortgage payment by a lot, and she has no control over it. With the exception of food and medicine, she can control what she chooses to buy, so a sales tax would be a much better, fairer way to tax, as long as food and medicine were exempted.

Mr. Handy criticizes commissioner Green for having the courage to impose an income tax with a property tax roll back provision, but it was the only alternative to generate the revenue. (The sales tax only works if it's enacted state-wide. If it was enacted only inside the county many buyers of big-ticket items like cars, RVs, furniture and expensive televisions would drive out of the county to buy, and Green didn't want to hurt the local businesses.) Handy is apparently promising to fund human services with more cuts to public safety departments, something I can't imagine.

Here's my last thought. People here feel like they're taxed to death, but we're not. I followed the link suggested by another poster and saw that Oregon DOES rank well below average in total tax burden, and Oregons average is strongly influenced by the Portland area, and area which is taxed higher in several ways, so Eugene is even farther below national averages. (That's also why Oregon (but not Eugene) is ranked so favorably by businesses.)

Nobody likes being taxed, but I'm perfectly willing to pay more for essential services if it's fair and I can afford it. I don't want another massive bill, like another $800 on my property taxes or something.

Let's add in a statewide 6% sales tax, with the rate set in the constitution, so the politicians can't keep raising it on their own, and then roll back property taxes and income taxes in an amount equal to one-third of what the sales tax is expected to generate. I suspect that would keep Oregon in the lower half of the states for overall tax burden, but it would probably generate enough money to give education, road construction and law enforcement a leg up towards average. Seem fair?

I'd expect to get something back in quality of life. Some money might come back in lowered auto insurance rates too. (My agent said our car theft problem is hurting our rates which used to be among the lowest in the country because of a comparatively low accident rate and lower crime. Not anymore.)

I'd like to return to the Eugene without all the gang graffiti and violence. It wasn't that long ago. I don't want to spend money on a jail, in fact I don't even want a jail at all, but I can see what has happened as a result of getting rid of all of the police detectives and failing to grow the jail with the population and the crime rate. Now the county can't even operate the small older jail they have.

The two men who beat our babysitter and stole her car were released from the county jail after less than three days because they didn't have enough prior convictions to make a certain score on some system they use at the jail now. She's still not able to come back to work, and she's scared to death, but the men who hurt her are out running free. That makes me very angry, sad and a little scared.

Our babysitter called the Sheriffs office and asked for witness protection. She was told there was no such thing in Oregon. They also told her that the men who assaulted her were criminals from California who had probably already fled the state (so she probably didn't need to worry about them coming after her). That's just not fair, and it's not safe. The sheriff who talked to her also said she was "lucky" the crime took place inside the city, because it probably would not have been investigated if it happened in the country, because they no longer respond to calls that are not presently-life-threatening. So, they would have come if she called mid-beating, but once they criminals have escaped they don't come, because all but two of the sheriff detectives have been eliminated. She talked to the DA too. The DA, a young woman, was very nice and willing to help, but she said there was little she could do without a jail. They can re-arrest the criminals, but there is nowhere to hold them, so the DA doesn't want to rearrest them until it's closer to trial.

I hate that we're getting serious criminals from California, and we have no way to protect our citizens from them.

Apparently the sheriff had over twenty detectives in the 1970s, by the early 80s they had lost many and were in the teens. By the early 90s they had less than ten detectives and last year it dropped from four to only two. Two detectives to do the work that used to be done by over twenty. Apparently it about the same in the DA's office.

Like I've said, it's not my favorite place to spend money, but even I recognize that there has to be SOME police capacity. They ought to at least have the number they need to investigate all the violence and non-drug felony crimes. I think most Lane County residents feel this way. I'd also rather have them paid by taxes and working on CRIME, than have the few remaining cops writing cheesy speeding tickets in order to pay their own salaries. That's ridiculous, and it irritates the heck out of generally law abiding citizens.

We have a RIGHT TO FEEL SAFE in our community!

Sorry for the rant. Too much wine with dinner :)

The property tax is indeed totally lame, at any level. It is the ONLY Tax that is unending - if you ever have enough money to buy a piece of property, they will tax you until you lose that property. At least Sales Taxes and Income Taxes only Tax you if you have money now. ONCE. Not over and over again until they have ALL of your money. Property taxes are also STUPID. They don't syphon a little of your money every paycheck, all year, like income tax, or add a little to every purchase, all year,like a sales tax.  No - property tax sends you a huge bill, once a year. And just before Election Day, too. Stupid.\

There are two things wrong with the "multiple, balanced income stream" concept. One is the fact that if there are multiple taxes to play with, the politicians will play the people against each other:  Raise the Propery taxes, because most people don't own property, raise the Sales tax, because that only hits "rich people who can afford to buy lots of stuff". Only the Income Tax hits just about all the people, therefore there is no possibility of  "Devide and Conquer" type tactics.

The second problem is: Do you listen to your own words?   "....produce a more reliable and recession-proof income stream."  In other words, we, (the government), don't care if there is a recession, and everyone is broke, WE WANT AS MUCH MONEY AS WE ALWAYS GET. Maybe it's just me, but I have a problem with that concept.

I think it's important for government to have more stable funding for a variety of reasons, including the fact that government tends to meet the needs (or should) of those who can't meet their own needs. When times get tough, there are MORE people in need of help, not less. More kids need school lunches, more people need food stamps and so on. Crime also tends to increase when the economy gets bad, so it really doesn't make sense to design a system of government funding that is as vulnerable as it's weakest link. We should design stability and reliability, and we should provide for a small "rainy day fund", so government can maintain essential services even during brief periods of revenue decline.

I saw the video of Mr. Handy on election night. He said something about how he's going to put more police officers on the street. He'll be ignoring/eating those words in no time.

As he'll soon discover, it would be absurd for the county to "put more officers on the street" without replenishing some of detectives that have been taken away, because the detectives are the ones working and solving the most serious crimes, like child sex abuse, rape, armed assault and homicide. The sheriff's office had twenty-something detectives in the 70s when there were 60,000 fewer people living here and we didn't have the present crime problem.

Of course, before you can add back detectives they have to be able to hold the most serious criminals. Lane County started out with a jail less than half the size needed. Now they can't even operate HALF of that, so they're down to less than 100 beds against a need for over 1,100, or closer to 1,500 if you figure in the state and federal inmates they have to hold and the lost capacity of the forest work camp, now also closed.

And, as others have explained, the financial engine that drives the correction income is the DA's office, now reduced to less than 65% of 1970s levels with more than twice the work. The cuts the county imposed there are reportedly costing the county over $1,000,000 per year in lost revenue, because the corrections census numbers dropped when all the DAs necessary to convict the criminals were eliminated, and 10 of their 11.5 investigators (detectives) were eliminated.

Mr. Handy has none of the money necessary to do what needs to be done, and he lacks the understanding necessary to offer meaningful participation. His law mowing "business" hasn't prepared him for complexities like negotiating with unions, binding arbitration, bonding costs, bonding ratings, financial planning, grant compliance analysis, contract analysis, or any of the other hundred essential skills for a manager making complex decisions with a 1,500 employee system managing hundreds of millions of dollars. He's way over his head. Fortunately for him, most of the people who voted for him have no idea what he promised, so they wont hold him to it. He'll be one more nail in the law enforcement coffin, which is why nobody affiliated with public safety supported him. Anybody find that surprising for a guy who claims to be focused on "putting more officers on the street".

It's terribly discouraging that the citizens have no idea what is going on at the county. Sorenson and Fleenor have been getting away with skipping work and doing nothing, and now they have lined up another stooge to do more of the same. I recently found out that some of the locals in the know call them "Pete, re-pete and three-pete", now an unbeatable voting block that will prevent constructive county government from now until one or more of them is removed.

redcity8:

The second problem is: Do you listen to your own words?   "....produce a more reliable and recession-proof income stream."  In other words, we, (the government), don't care if there is a recession, and everyone is broke, WE WANT AS MUCH MONEY AS WE ALWAYS GET. Maybe it's just me, but I have a problem with that concept.

I too, also have a big problem with that concept Redcity.  The idea of adding new, additional tax burdens on the middle class in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression is utter madness.   Just where will this all end?   As it is, Property taxes go up a MINIMUM of 3% every year.   Does anyone in Lane County consistently get a 3% raise every year?   Of course not.   Many folks are even making less money than they have in the past.

And what about inflation currently?   It is really out of control at present.  How much more are you having to pay now even for basics like utilities and food, compared to last year??   People are really getting hit hard financially in some many different ways currently.

I don't know what your property tax bill was like this year, but mine went up a huge 10.48%  Now this was mainly due to a new local option levy here in Springfield to support the operation of our new justice/police facilities here.   This is a major hardship on many folks to be getting such a big increase at this time.   But I did support this, as I do think that law enforcement is a priority.   And I do trust our city government here in Springfield to spend the money wisely.  So I'm willing to sacrifice, and pay such a whopping increase to support that specific purpose.

However, I lost all confidence in Green, Stewart, and Dwyer after they tried to impose the income tax on us without any vote of the people.  I believe that the vote against Green was not so much a pro-Handy vote, as it was a combination of some people being pro-Handy, and other simply being Anti-Green.   Since I don't live in Eugene, I could not vote against Green.   But if I could have voted in the contest, I would have rather written in the name of Satan himself, than to re-elect Green.  I am so glad to see that Green has been ousted, and that their "gang of 3" has been broken up.

Governor Kulangoski's proposal this week to increase our vehicle registration fees 300% is totally insane.  The rich won't be affected by such a gigantic increase.   Only working class folks will be hurt.  I'm certainly starting to write letters this week to oppose this stupidity.   One of the things that many economists have said recently about the current recession is that government imposing new taxes will produce yet a further drag on our economy, and make the current economic situation even worse.  It is the last thing that government should be doing right now, if they want this awful recession to end someday.

I was so glad to see my fellow Springfield residents narrowly defeat the Willamalane's Measure 20-138 after school programs Property tax increase here in Springfield, even though there was no organized opposition to it, and so many government officials supported it.   Out of my $2,270.59 property tax bill, I am already giving $808.18 to support Springfield schools.   Now I realize that we do need to provide for the education of the children here in our city.   But that is enough money, in my opinion, for supporting that.  To say that taxpayers must now also subsidize after school and summer recreational programs for children is an utterly ridiculous concept.

Perhaps we can start a recall effort on Kuglongoski.  Governor Gray Davis was removed from office in California party due to similar circumstances.   He raised California's vehicle registration fees by about the same exorbitant amount, and outrage over that helped fuel the recall effort against him that ended his political career.

People are getting sick and tired of these never ending increased taxes and new, additional tax proposals.  It is not sustainable for the government to continually increase what it takes away in taxes from citizens.  At some point, folks are just going to throw up their hands and say:

NO MORE NEW TAXES!

That day may not be very far away.

Lance