JOSEPHINE COUNTY, Ore. —The Josephine County Sheriff’s Office is still working to find a permanent funding stream for law enforcement. NBC5 News told you last week about recent efforts to also bring the city of Grants Pass in, to find stable funding.
The board of Josephine County Commissioners is hosting a town hall Wednesday night on the matter. Sheriff Dave Daniel says it’s an opportunity to educate the public about future possibilities and hear from them.
We’re told this meeting will be focused solely on the Josephine County Sheriffs’ Office. Commissioner Herman Baertschiger and Sheriff Daniel are scheduled to speak. Sheriff Daniel says some potential ideas that will be mentioned include the possibility of creating a taxing district, a Sheriffs office levy, or a law enforcement Retail Activities Tax.
As NBC5 News told you earlier this month, Sheriff Daniel met with grants pass officials about creating stable funding for his agency and the city’s police force. He estimated a new retail tax would generate around $4.4 million for Josephine County, around $3.7 million for Grants Pass, and $208,000 for Cave Junction.
“It looks like this would provide a fully funded sheriff’s office for the sheriff’s office at least in the patrol division, administration, detectives division to where we are up to 24.7 and will be able to provide an even better service than we are now,” said Daniel. Nothing has been decided.
The sheriff and commissioners are encouraging people to come to participate and be a part of the conversation to hopefully find a solution.
The meeting is at 6 pm Wednesday night at the Anne Basker auditorium. It will also be live-streamed through the county’s website.
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