CC Minutes - 06/30/99 JEO - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

at ways in financing, the committee saw problems with the property tax. He said the problem with property tax is that it requires a double majority. He said the other problem the committee was concerned about was the duration which is limited under the Constitution to five years, and it had to coincide with the biennial general election. He noted another problem is the 3% annual increase allowed under Measure 50, will not keep up with population growth and inflation over time. He said the committee looked at alternatives (gross, sales, payroll tax, surcharges) and concluded that a County surcharge on state, personal and corporate income taxes would best meet the accepted criteria for taxation of adequacy and fairness. He noted with regard to a surcharge, the committee wanted a small percentage increase that would be applied to the amount of the state income tax actually paid, not to the total adjusted income or state taxable income. He said the committee proposed a new financing measure, a surcharge on state, personal and corporate income taxes to be achieved by a County charter amendment. He noted the amendment would set maximum rates for the surcharge for both the personal and corporate taxes and under the committee's recommendation, it would specify the purposes of the measure in general terms, but would rely on the annual budget process to allocate revenue to specific programs. Tollenaar stated the committee recommended that in addition to funding the Measure 2005 programs in the 1998 proposal, that PSCC and the Board of County Commissioners seriously considered raising an additional amount for local services through a program of revenue sharing with the cities and the County on behalf of the unincorporated rural areas. He noted the committee recognized that community safety must be addressed not only at the countywide but at the local community level, and each community is the best judge of its own needs. He said that input became available from the opinion survey and focus groups indicating that changes should be considered in two aspects of the committee's report, supporting the concept of flexibility that would come by relying on annual budgets to allocate revenue to specific programs and clearly identifying the programs and activities to be funded. He added the committee favored submitting a measure without a specific termination date, but the survey and focus groups indicated strong public preference for a sunset provision in whatever measure is submitted, with a required evaluation of results obtained from the measure before they ask voters to vote on an extension of the measure. He stated it does address urgent countywide needs such as the juvenile justice center, forest work camp, jail intake and includes a major emphasis on crime prevention. He noted the surcharges are broad-based taxes that are geared on ability to pay and should be more acceptable than property tax to low income citizens and businesses that operate at a low profit margin. He said through revenue sharing, the surcharges will meet the unique needs of local cities and rural communities that are under served with basic police patrol and recall response. MOORE INFORMATION REPORT Jim Carlson, Lane Council of Governments, stated they were asked by the PSCC to have an opinion survey conducted in Lane County and they contracted with Moore Information. He noted there were a total of 666 survey responses collected from May 26 to May 28, 1999. He reported the survey was Page 4 -- Lane County Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- June 30, 1999 WP bclm1990751M