By Tom Henderson • Staff Writer • 

Council hikes local sewer fees

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Comments

Tuvey

So according to this article, City Manager Jeff Towery and Councilor Remy Drabkin are the two who have expressed nonchalance for this tax and have pushed it past all the others? If all of the others who in this article expressed concern had voted no like Geary and Gavin would it have failed and forced more discussion OR are you all now expressing concern because it is turning out to have been a bad decision? What actions can the community take to reverse this TAX? How do we MAKE you be more transparent in your actions? How do we make you act on your concerns BEFORE you start raising taxes? What are you doing to fix that many expressed concern that there wasn't enough discussion before voting to squeeze yet more money out of your constituents who are already barely making a living? What will you do when everyone moves because they can't afford to live here anymore? Who will you tax then?

Lulu

This sneaky sewer tax does, indeed, smell worse than the landfill, and the people--those who vote, anyway, those who pay your salaries, those you keep screwing over, will not forget.

actionjax

RECALL!

Joel

This is a particularly ugly and dirty move by the Mayor and City council. It's stunning to me that they can raise taxes in this kind of back handed way.
It takes money out of the wallet of every single citizen in McMinnville... and we are completely helpless to avoid it. What are we going to do to avoid this tax... decide to not use the sewer system anymore?

Miata1991

There's not much more that can be said. And shame on the NR for turning off comments. Thank You Zach Geary and Adam Garvin for voting no. As far as Sal Peralta, he is my District council person and as said below " We will not forget when it comes to voting time.. You will not have my vote Sal Peralta ever again...and to use OUR money to fund homelessnes !! Shame on the City Council and the City Manager...It is recall time...

CubFan

I'm in complete agreement with all of the above. The city has a budget shortfall of $3,000,000, so they're grabbing at straws to fill the gap. How did the city end up in this hole? Seems like poor management of funds to me. What can we do, as citizens, to petition for a reversal on the sewer increase? And the sewer increase goes to the general fund and may never be spent on the homeless. Thank you Geary and Garvin for your vote in opposition.

Jim

If there is a shortfall on money it doesn’t take long to see where it went. It costs a lot for police,EMT service and cleaning up after the derelict’s. Then the city planners expensive tastes for projects like Alpine Avenue and Hill Road seem to be unchecked. No wonder the City Council has approved all the housing projects for more fees and property taxes. Our schools and roads are over burdened with people now but let’s invite everybody although we’re out of room in the urban growth boundaries. They want to charge everybody for everything and just keep pissing money away. It’s got to stop somewhere. It’s time for some new people in charge in our Council and a lot of the jobs associated with managing our what used to be a great little town.

actionjax

Anytime the media has a vested interest in an outcome they turn to censorship to try to shape their readers thinking. Very small minds work like that.

Ossie Bladine

@Miata1991, To my knowledge, comments were never turned off on this article. Is there a different thread you are referring to? It's very rare that we turn off a comments thread -- can probably count them on one hand over the decades.

@actionjax, what possibly is our "vested interest" here that would lead us to censor people? Last I checked, "all media businesses are exempt from this franchise fee" was not included in the resolution. You also must have missed the editorial printed in Friday's issue on the matter: https://newsregister.com/article?articleTitle=sewer-surcharge-a-stinky-surprise-for-mac-residents--1559279455--33450--editorials

Ossie Bladine
N-R Editor

tagup

Watch out Ozzie, you my be recalled a editor....hehe....

Longmire fan

A bit of irony in having everyone pay more for sewage disposal with the possibility of maybe helping those who dump sewage on the street

Rotwang

Taxation is theft. People who support this because they care for the bums have no concept of the fungible nature of money.

Finch

Since they claimed the 'fee' was originally for the homeless issue and now it's going to the general fund give people the choice - homeless or dog control and they may be surprised.

actionjax

Ossie, the NR has a vested interest in making your contributors look good. You can say you don't but honestly, just ask around to see if people think the NR is an unbiased publication. Don't ask the good ol' boys you yuk it up with, ask around.
I can give you a clear black and white example of the NR's attempts to guide readers opinion in a political race where your publication endorsed the other candidate but would it matter?

Ossie Bladine

@actionjax:
1: Not sure what you mean by 'contributors'; writers? advertisers? subscribers?
2: I don't need to ask around. The NR is obviously viewed by many as biased -- like all media and news outlets. Being unbiased is the goal of most professional journalists. But humans are inherently biased so it's tough. On the other hand, readers are often very biased (more so these days, I think). So even if a news source was 100% unbiased, it would be viewed as biased by many, if not most. Just the nature of the game.
3: I'm 34. Not sure if the yuks I hang out with count as good ol' boys and girls. But maybe.
4: We don't hide the fact that the N-R Editorial Board endorses candidates in the opinion section. I think our news election coverage is very balanced, even when the editorial board is strongly in favor of a certain candidate. I'm sure you could come up with an example of when that wasn't the case. However, I have no idea how that translates to the sewer franchise fee issue. Please explain.
5. I appreciate the interaction.

Ossie Bladine
N-R Editor

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