By Kirby Neumann-Rea • Of the News-Register • 

Mac council assembles funding solution

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Comments

BigfootLives

"...and two increased franchise fees and one new one (the electrical franchise), the latter coming to the surprise of Water & Light and regarded by the utility as illegal."

"Water & Light commission chair Tom Tankersley told the council that only the commission has the authority to raise rates..."

So the W&L states that this is an illegal implementation of fees and have threatened legal action, but based on previous reporting in the NW on this subject the city attorney is fine with it. This is ridiculous, you are hitting the citizens of this town with a 6% sewer/waste water increase while inflation is going through the roof, the supply chain is tattered, and the economy is heading into a stagflation recession the likes of which we may have not seen in decades.

When households are hit with this increase, they too will have 'funding shortfalls', but they will have to do what the city should be doing, Cutting their spending.

BC

"after lengthy and often heated discussion"

You know, I've seen some rude and disrespectful behavior shown and called out at the county level, but no one seems to be mentioning it at the city level.

On one occasion at a past council meeting, I have seen Remy call out a citizen for his disrespectful comments towards staff. However, nothing but silence at this meeting when one of her own council members was exceedingly rude and disrespectful to another council member and the mayor! Remy - you're going to BE the mayor, will you put up with it then, too?

Kellie Menke's behavior at this (and other) council meetings must be reigned in. Her words and body language throughout meetings when someone speaking is saying something she personally disagrees with is unprofessional at the very least. Telling the mayor to quit talking because he's not helping anything? Seriously? Saying that she doesn't care to listen to anything one of her fellow councilors has to say? Is this how she participates in making decisions? Rude, completely disrespectful and by all appearances, not called to task for it.

I think she owes the Mayor and councilor Chenowith a public apology (as her remarks were made publicly), and unless she can start hearing all sides and making her decisions based on input beyond her own choir, I think she needs to step down.

As to finding a temporary bridge to this budget shortfall - kudos to councilor Garvin for his perseverance in asking the hard questions until the reluctant answers were finally given. I might add that he did it in a diplomatic and non-threatening manner. Maybe councilor Menke can take a lesson.

The people need a say in new taxes even if they're falsely called franchise fees. They are taxes going to the general fund and have nothing whatsoever to do with utilities.

Don Dix

The title 'Mac council assembles funding solution' is misleading, at best.
Calling any 'extra, added fee' for anything the city services provides is not a 'funding solution' or a 'franchise fee' -- it's a tax -- it's a 'sales tax' added to the utility bill. Franchise fee? Really? There isn't nearly enough lipstick for that size of a pig!

PAO

I came late to the fee party so I have a hard time wrapping my head around taxes/fees based on basic utility usage. I equate that to taxing milk rather than taxing candy. One is a basic, the other discretionary.

That said, I have watched the parks group decline to accept non-buildable land from developers, only to be overridden by the planning department accepting the land, thus taking it out of the tax rolls and adding to parks overhead. I have watched the Hill Road improvements that include massive amounts of landscaping requiring massive amounts of hand labor to minimally maintain. Were maintenance costs even considered during the design process?

Based on the portion of the meeting I did attend, the revenue shortfall, not faulty budgeting, was positioned as the sole cause of cut services and lost jobs. A council member has written letters about the revenue shortfall based on documentation published in 2011. The blame was placed on our capped property tax rate. Yet no mention was made of the over 136 acres previously in farm deferral that have now been developed within the period that the shortfall has occurred, since 2016. In that same period, just along the Baker Creek corridor, over 1,000 housing units have been built or zoned and so have joined our tax base. Assuming a population of 34,000 and average household size of 2.6, total households are about 13,000. That means our residential-only property tax base has increased about 8 percent. Add that to the annual 3 percent annual increase in property tax rates our assessor implements regardless of the economy, and I have to ask, “Where is the money going?”

BigfootLives

PAO - Not sure where the money is going/went. apparently, neither are they. I guess I'm just supposed to feel guilty about used library tables while my retired, elderly neighbors on a fixed income worry about their utility bills.

David S. Wall

I have a few questions...

What date was the FY22-23 [$2Million dollar] deficit first acknowledged?

What was the date Mayor Hill signed contract(s) to have a house built in Utah?

What was the date the News Register [Jeb & crew] first knew of Mayor Hill's decision to resign and move to Utah?

Why wasn't the [$2Million dollar deficit] not seriously debated over several months?

Why did Mayor Hill announce his resignation just a couple of weeks ago when the FY 21-22 ends June 30, 2022?

Why was the debate and serious attempt to fund the [$2Million dollar deficit] delayed until after Mayor Hill formally announced his resignation?

**Why would a city council entertain raising electrical use rates and a franchise fee increase on Cascade Steel?

***Cascade Steel employs several hundred employees with reported 'high paying jobs'.

Cascade Steel is owned by Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc..

"Schnitzer Reports Second Quarter Fiscal 2022 Financial Results" can be seen here:

https://www.schnitzersteel.com/company/investors/news-release-details/21661

Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc., is listed on the NASDAQ [stock symbol: SCHN]; Stock price as of the Friday's market Close of [$45.63/share down (-2.52/share (5.23%)].

****Why would McMinnville's City Council entertain increasing Cascade Steel's operating expenses as we slip into Recessionary times thereby jeopardizing high-paying jobs?

*Is City Manager Towery's employment contract to end in 2024?

Is the [$2Million dollar deficit] the real reason why City Manager Towery's wife is a candidate for Yamhill County Commissioner?

I sure to have more 'questions' as the saga of McMinnville's incompetent city council and senior management continues to develop.

David S. Wall


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