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Mayor-elect sees need for transparency and fiscal clarity, questions rec plan, service fee

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Comments

TTT

This is much welcome change for our community. Thank you Mayor-Elect Morris.

tagup

I appreciate Ms Morris’s comments regarding the utility “ service charge”. Any service charge that is implemented should be for a specific objective and have a sundown date.

B

Bravo!

CubFan

Precisely “why” Kim won the election. There ARE lots of questions, and I know she will dig deep for answers.

CubFan

Regarding that service charge, which started in January 2023. The wording in this article is accurate, but a little misleading. The city has collected $2 million in the last fiscal year. HOWEVER, since January 2023 when the charge started, the city has collected $3.5 million against the $1.8 million shortfall. Which is nearly twice the amount of shortfall, they continue to collect it, AND will be raising the fee to $13.27 next year. What would happen if we revolted and deducted that when we pay our W&L bill?

BC

Having Kim Morris and two new councilors take over feels like a huge relief from the tensions and muddy transparency that has been the call sign of (most of) the current leaders in McMinnville. I'm looking forward to seeing the waters clear up.

seekingbalance

Kim Morris is a perfect fit for the city of McMinnville's needs. We all have questions, and they're almost all similar. Now, I have confidence that Kim will help the city finally move forward in a positive direction. She will ask the hard questions, find the answers, and (most importantly) share those answers with all interested citizens.
Bravo, Kim; I sincerely wish you the best!

NJINILNCCAOR

Regarding the $150million+ rec center:

No.

Yes to parks and open spaces.

No to a fancy schmancy tribute to city leader egos.

tagup

I suggest holding back on the victory laps until we see what actually happens. Removing the service charge would be a start, but those funds cut from the budget will need to be replaced by funds from somewhere.

BC

For tagup: "those funds cut from the budget will need to be replaced by funds from somewhere."

Or maybe a forensics audit will find room to cut costs, which to my knowledge, hasn't been explored at all.

Nearly every citizen has had to tighten their belts from the Covid shut-downs and inflation. What the city has done to make up the very same short-fall is to tax/fee those same citizens without ever trying to tug on their own belt end. At the same time they're also implementing brand new ideas to spend more money by squeezing the citizens even harder.

tagup

I get it BC, and I don’t disagree, but the service charge brings in around $2mil/ year. It will be a tall order to pull back the service charge & not use some of the fire district windfall to cover it. Call me skeptical.

CubFan

BC... Completely agree. The city send very willing to continue spending money, when we citizens have been tightening our belts. For 4 years.

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