GRANTS PASS, Ore. – In Josephine County voters are backing law enforcement with a couple of different levies.
Grants Pass city officials asking residents to continue a levy to support public safety. The city says without approval, police and fire staffing will suffer.
City officials tell us for the past 13 years, Grants Pass Police and Fire Departments operated off of a $1.79 cent Levy. But it won’t be enough because they also say the city has a $16.5 million dollar deficit. The current levy raises only about half of that price, around $8 million per year.
Valerie Lovelace, Grants Pass City Councilor, said “So we’re really trying to do is bring stability to our funding for police and fire. So the best bet would be to have it be partly levy partly something else. If we did not get the levy passed, then we’ll have to look for larger amounts of money to come from somewhere else.”
Councilor Lovelace says that in the last two years, the city has already had to take $2 million in cuts to public safety. The unofficial results as of this morning show overwhelming support to renew the levy with 78% Voting Yes.
City officials say they will discuss other potential fees like for water or potential sales tax on Monday, November 13.
See the latest results here.
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