The Talent Urban Renewal funding proposal is losing by a significant margin.
Now the city says its already looking at other funding sources.
Jackson County Fire District Five had been going door to door, asking people to vote “no” on the proposal.
And as of Tuesday night, 64% of voters did just that.
Fire District Five said they want the city to be able to rebuild, as long as it doesn’t take away its funding.
Local 2596 President Brady Graham said, “people who have lived in the Rogue Valley for the last few years would understand why now is not a good time to start cutting funds from the fire department.”
If the plan had gone through, the agency would lose almost $140,000 from its budget each year, for the next 20 years.
Talent Mayor Darby Ayers-Flood said the voters made their voice clear with this vote, she said, “now that the community has chosen not to use TIF funding for that, we’ll just start looking for other ways to pay for the plan.”
Mayor Ayers-Flood said the city will continue to look for grants, as well as coming up with new funding options.
She said the vote does delay implementing the urban renewal plan.
Graham said the fire district’s union supports rebuilding Talent and it wants to work with the city to help.
Mayor Ayers-Flood said they are prepared to move forward with the direction of the community.
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