“It limits present and future City Councils with regard to property tax revenue.”
This is correct, but the Council has already been limited by the Permanent Tax Rate Limit set by Measure
50 in 1997. This only removes the amount that the City has been paying for TVF&R’s contract once that
contract is no longer in place and the City no longer funds Fire and EMS services.
“This should be accomplished by some other method than a Charter Amendment, such as a Council
Resolution.”
A Charter Amendment is the only way to keep the authority of raising Newberg city property taxes in
the hands of Newberg citizens. While a Council Resolution could apply the same tax limitation, it could
easily be removed at a City Council meeting.
“This will restrict the City from raising funds for needed projects such as roads.”
The City Council would have the ability to raise revenue through the same methods that it now has such
as a levy or fee. This adds another method where revenue could be raised by a change to the Charter
Amendment. The Council could put a new Amendment on the ballot that lowers the $1.88 restriction to
provide additional revenue. The Council would only need to convince a majority of voters that the
increase is appropriate.
“The cost of a ballot measure to revise the Charter Amendment could run as high as $50,000.”
There are two “free” elections every other year. It is only in non-General Election years that there
would be a cost to the City to put a measure on the ballot. The City should be able to plan its finances
well enough that a Charter Amendment to increase property taxes (that is not at all allowed now) could
be deferred for a year to avoid the election cost.