Argument in Support of Measure 14-69 Hood River County Public Safety Five-year Local Option Tax

Voters in Hood River County have an opportunity to vote on a 5-year operating levy focused on public safety. Measure 14-69 would provide funding for public safety through a property tax increase of $0.78 per $1,000 of assessed value for a period of 5 years.

Asking for additional tax dollars is never an easy task. Asking in the middle of a global pandemic that has impacted much of the economy increases the difficulty exponentially. If we could delay this ask, we would but we are at a point where we must ask now before we have to make difficult and long-lasting cuts that will dramatically impact the services that we provide.

Hood River County spent the last 20 years slowly decreasing the size of the organization through elimination of positions, attrition, consolidation of departments, and reduction or elimination of some services. Alternative options for revenue have been examined and, when feasible, proposed. We find ourselves at the end of a long road with few options remaining. Measure 14-69 represents the level of funding necessary to maintain County services throughout the organization with guaranteed funding for public safety. This would allow the Sheriff’s Department to provide 24 hour patrol the vast majority of the time as well as providing for stable funding for many other public safety functions.

This funding is critical to maintaining the essential services we all rely on. Hood River County is responsible for most public health and safety functions as well as emergency management in our community. The importance of these functions are highlighted during disasters like the pandemic we are currently experiencing but also during wildfires, ice storms, and other natural disasters. Without this additional funding, large cuts to personnel will have to be made with implementation beginning on July 1st of this year. These cuts would have huge impacts on public health and safety functions within Hood River County.

Please vote yes on measure 14-69. The funding request is focused and targeted and is limited to 5 years in length without another vote of the people.

Thank you,

Les Perkins
Hood River County Commissioner