There were a lot of things I learned when I served in the Oregon House of Representatives from 2001 to 2005. One of them was how to best prioritize and utilize taxpayer resources to fund critical government services.
I was assigned to the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee. Many of my colleagues were on policy committees and would be able to go home once they were done meeting. Not me. Because Ways and Means has several subcommittees, I would often find myself at the capitol in Salem early in the morning and well into the evening.
All of that time learning the ins and outs of the state budget was very necessary, as the national recession devastated Oregonians’ pocketbooks. Our state government is largely dependent on income tax, so that meant fewer revenues were available. But the budget still needed to be balanced.
The demand for government services outpaced the dollars that were available, so we had to determine which programs provided the best value to the state’s residents. By the time we were done, the budget was balanced without citizens being burdened by more taxes.
I took the same approach when serving on the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners from 2013 to 2017. Not only was the budget balanced, but the county had a surplus of funds.
Sadly, that is no longer the case. Under its current board of commissioners, the county has taken a completely different direction. The result is that the budget has faced a shortfall of $20 million over the past two years.
How did we get here? It’s simple. County government grew beyond its means. More programs were added. Consultants were paid to conduct “special projects,” with no accountability for performance or their value to county residents.
Starting last August, I began to publicly question current Clackamas County Commission Chair Jim Bernard about how and why things have gotten to this point. His response, or lack thereof, helped me conclude something I had long suspected—he’s a huge part of the problem.
Bernard’s lack of leadership results from the fact that he is not a manager. That’s why he doesn’t know how to budget public funds with a proactive approach to preparedness. And it’s one of the main reasons that, instead of planning for the future, the county government is lurching from crisis to crisis.
In that sense, and in terms of basic governing philosophy the contrast between Bernard and myself could not be clearer. Let me elaborate and spell it out.
I have always firmly believed that the government exists to serve the public, and not the other way around. The responsible approach is to work with the revenue that the county has available to it and properly prioritize those resources. Constantly asking citizens for more money just to grow budgets, for the county and for other entities like Metro, is irresponsible.
Instead of telling citizens how the county can help them in this time of crisis, the county’s leaders are choosing to put the government first and ask for more money.
The crisis occurring right now is that companies are losing money and workers are losing their jobs. It isn’t that the county and Metro don’t have enough of other peoples’ money to grow their budgets and bureaucracies as much as they would like to.
My governing philosophy came from years of running private sector businesses. I know what it’s like to manage organizations through good times and bad. Most importantly, I’m proud of the work I’ve done both in the Legislature and on the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners to put good management practices in place. As your next commission chair, I plan to build on those years of experience to get the county government back on the right track.
One of the most important function of a commissioner is to represent the interests of county residents. That’s especially true of whichever commissioner serves as chair of the board of commissioners.
As a longtime Clackamas County resident, I’m extremely familiar with the county’s communities and its residents’ needs. I’ve seen the area evolve over the years alongside the neighboring metropolis of Portland. And I feel it’s more important than ever that Clackamas County and its cities have their own unique identities that are independent of the state’s largest city.
Even though some of its cities are considered suburbs of Portland, the vast majority of Clackamas County is rural. I think we need to allow and encourage those communities to maintain and preserve their small town feels and rural characters.
As Portland has grown, so has the severity of its problems. We’ve seen increases of such urban issues as graffiti, traffic and homelessness. But worse yet, some of these social ills are starting to spread out to nearby communities, including some of the cities in Clackamas County.
That’s one of the most important reasons why we need to preserve the county’s autonomy and empower its residents to choose their own collective destiny.
For far too long, we’ve seen the county’s interests become subservient to Metro, the regional governing authority. I agree with the many county residents who feel that Metro is another costly level of government that undermines other, more local municipalities like cities.
In response to the loss of $11 million in revenue per month caused by the coronavirus crisis, Metro has laid off nearly half of its employees. It’s likely that more will be furloughed.
Before all of this, Metro was considering a multi-million-dollar tax measure in the name of funding services for the homeless. And even though thousands of Americans and Oregonians have lost their jobs, Metro is going ahead with its proposed tax measure.
If passed by voters, Clackamas residents and businesses would be surrendering themselves to the taxing authority of one of the worst managed cities in America.
The idea of having the City of Portland collecting taxes from folks outside its jurisdiction, without the direct concurrence of Clackamas County residents, is simply wrong. If we somehow got this question before Clackamas County voters asking if they want to have taxes collected from them by the City of Portland, I’m confident they would say no.
Current Clackamas County Commission Chair Jim Bernard has spent his entire political career doing the bidding of officials from Portland and Metro. By contrast, when I served as county commissioner from 2013 and 2017, I stood up to those urban interests and put my constituents first.
Portland’s problems are due largely to its officials’ lack of leadership and the chronic mismanagement of vast amounts of taxpayer dollars. Clackamas County residents should not be left holding the bag for the failures of politicians and bureaucrats from the City of Portland and Metro.
It’s time we had a county commissioner chair who was willing to stand up for our citizens’ interests instead of writing blank checks to bail Portland and Metro out for their failed policies. I’m proud of my track record of doing right by the citizens of Clackamas County, and it’s why I’m running for chair of its board of commissioners.
All too often, we see what happens when the government tries to do too much—cost overruns, lax oversight, mission creep between different agencies and core functions not being done well. That is one of the many reasons that I’ve always thought government should stick to doing a few things and should seek to do them well.
In my two terms in the Oregon House of Representatives, I saw the results of the state government trying to be all things to all people. My first term began in 2001 and the nation was in recession. I was assigned to the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee and tasked with balancing the budget amid declining revenues.
Luckily, my colleagues and I were able to accomplish this without raising taxes. We did it by identifying and prioritizing key services. Expensive, non-essential programs that only served a few people were eliminated and spending was brought under control.
In the years since then, our state leaders have constantly expanded the scope of what they think the state government should do. And now that the economy may be headed into recession, the state could be in a world of hurt and potentially painful budget cuts.
One of the reasons I enjoyed serving as Clackamas County Commissioner from 2013 to 2017 is that county government has the unique position of being the closest to the citizens it serves.
During my stint as commissioner, I took the same approach to governance and budgeting that I did in the Legislature. Not only was the budget balanced, but the county had a surplus of funds.
In the years since then, the county leadership has taken a much different direction. The approach has been to grow government’s footprint without regard to the ability to pay for it further on down the line. Consequentially, this fiscal recklessness has meant deficits of $20 million over the last two years and discussions about the need for “rightsizing” county government.
The real problem is that county government got too large in the first place. It’s time to get back to the basics.
County government’s top priorities should be law enforcement and all aspects of its criminal justice system, the infrastructure that is needed to keep people and products moving, and essential services that are valued by citizens, such as alleviating homelessness.
As chair of the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners, I will use my previous experience to return the county’s budget to sound financial footing. I have a proven track record, at the state and county level, of balancing budgets without burdening citizens with higher taxes.
Throughout my campaign for chair of the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners, I’ve emphasized the need to focus on the most essential of services. And out of all of them, law and order is arguably the most critical.
When I served on the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners from 2013 to 2017, I strived to ensure that county residents had adequate law enforcement by fully funding the sheriff’s office. It was, and is, important to me that our deputies and other personnel in that office have high morale because that results in better performance and service for citizens.
I advocated for full employment of that office. That includes multiple divisions of the sheriff’s office, such as patrol, jail and investigations. I also voted to keep benefit packages whole by increasing medical benefits.
As your next Clackamas County Board of Commissioners chair, I will use common sense budgeting practices to balance the budget, as I have before, and provide the services that are necessary to keep citizens safe.
I will do this by prioritizing core public service functions over specialty projects.
I’m speaking, specifically, of the new courthouse that the current commissioners are pushing in spite of public opposition.
That project is estimated to cost $230 million, including debt service. Commissioners have considered funding it through a property tax increase of 17 cents per $1,000 in assessed value. The owner of a home valued at $350,000 would face an additional $595 in taxes per year.
It’s true that the Legislature has allocated $31 million to the county for the study and planning of the courthouse. But that is contingent upon the county providing matching funds. Given that the county’s budget has become unsustainable, that scenario is simply unrealistic.
Fortunately, there is a better way to meet the same need for improved courthouse facilities.
The first step would be to renegotiate with the Legislature and aske for the $31 million outright to do the project. Then I would change the project to better meet taxpayers’ needs.
My plan is to rent one of the abandoned mall sites and retrofit it. The cost of this approach would be around $20 million, or less than 10 percent than what is being proposed right now.
The coronavirus situation and the advent of online shopping has caused an increase of available storefronts at malls like the Clackamas Town Center. They include the Sears building, and J.C. Penny’s may soon also be vacant.
Over the long-term, this will keep the properties on the tax rolls through a long-term lease agreement to be worked out with the mall’s owner.
The Clackamas Town Center is located right off of I-205 and is accessible through existing light rail and bus systems. Its buildings already have adequate parking, escalators, elevators and are compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act regulations.
More importantly, I know for a fact that this approach will work. How do I know? Because I’ve done it before, while serving as a Clackamas County Commissioner.
A judge was looking to relocate her crowded courtrooms. So we rented an abandoned commercial structure that had previously housed a Joanne’s Fabrics. The building was located inside of a strip mall right behind the Clackamas Town Center.
I believe that county residents will be much better served by this creative solution than they will by being put on the hook for property taxes to fund a project that they do not support.
Everyone is aware of the immediate impacts
of the coronavirus, with regular news reports on the numbers of infections,
deaths, product shortages, closures and restrictions on peoples’ daily activities.
But much less obvious are its short and long-term impacts on the economy, businesses,
household finances and government budgets.
It’s always been my philosophy that
government budgets should more closely resemble those of individual taxpayers. These
basic principles include the belief that we need to live within our means,
avoid incurring unnecessary debt and put money aside in good times in
preparation for a rainy day.
All indications are that the politicians
and bureaucrats currently running the State of Oregon and Clackamas County have
ignored those principles. The price that will be paid as a result is
staggering.
Because Oregon does not have a sales tax,
the state relies heavily on an income tax. That is one of the reasons that the
state is usually one of the first affected by national recessions and also one
of the last to recover. It stands to reason that if people lose their jobs,
they’re going to have a difficult time paying income taxes.
Local governments tend to be funded through
property taxes. The constant pressure to increase those taxes and add layers of
levies and bonds is a huge contributing factor to the high cost of housing in
Oregon. This is despite the fact that the state’s voters passed a ballot
measure in the 1990s to limit property tax increases.
The Great Recession that started in late
2008 should have taught important lessons about the need to budget prudently.
But it would appear that officials in state and county government failed to
learn those lessons, and instead kept assuming that record revenues would roll
into their coffers uninterrupted.
These new realities are now becoming
impossible to ignore.
This recent Oregonian article details a recent
legislative hearing, in which the governor’s chief of staff told lawmakers they
will need to be cautious about how they spend money because Oregon could be
headed into a long and deep economic downtown.
That same legislative body passed some of
the largest increases in the state’s history during its 2019 regular session,
despite several consecutive years of record revenue. The current state budget
stands at a whopping $83 billion. Divided by the state’s four million
residents, that is over $20,000 per man, woman and child in Oregon.
At the local level, I’ve been sounding the
alarm about Clackamas County’s deficit budget situation since August. The
county has received $1.2 billion in revenues for its all funds budget, which is
also a record. However, a culture of mismanagement and lack of prudent planning
and proper prioritization have combined to produce an $8 million deficit.
What will Oregon state and Clackamas County
officials do once the coronavirus impacts on their budgets become obvious? Will
they take the proper steps to end wasteful spending? I seriously doubt it.
Some state lawmakers are always quick to
blame the state’s lack of a sales tax for the fact that there never seems to be
enough revenue to match their appetites for spending. The aforementioned
article even quotes one lawmaker as decrying the federal tax cuts that have put
more money in the pockets of families and business owners.
The current Clackamas County Board of
Commissioners has expressed support for multiple other taxing and spending measures,
including the costly construction of a new courthouse that is opposed by most
of the county’s voters.
These troubling times and circumstances
require common sense leadership. During my service in the Oregon House of
Representatives, I helped balance the budget in the aftermath of a recession
without raising taxes. Similarly, I left Clackamas County with a budget surplus
in my four-year term as commissioner.
The politicians currently in charge chose
to spend money freely during good economic times, instead of preparing for the
eventual downturn that is now upon us. I’m running for chair of the Clackamas
County Board of Commissioners because I think we need to get back on the right
track, without balancing the budget on your back.
Nik Blosser,
Governor Brown’s chief of staff, said lawmakers should be cautious in how they
spend money from the state budget because Oregon could be headed into a long
and deep economic downturn. The likely economic fallout from coronavirus
related shutdowns across the country.
This action comes
on the heels of some of the largest tax increases from the 2019 legislature in
memory. The state budget is also one of the richest since statehood at $83
billion.
Lack of a sales tax and President Trump’s federal tax cuts were blamed by some
lawmakers as the culprits.
mas County was in
a $8 million deficit while revenues came in at a record $1.2 billion all-funds
budget.
Nik Blosser,
Governor Brown’s chief of staff, said lawmakers should be cautious in how they spend
money from the state budget because Oregon could be headed into a long and deep
economic downturn. The likely economic fallout from coronavirus related
shutdowns across the country.
This action comes
on the heels of some of the largest tax increases from the 2019 legislature in
memory. The state budget is also one of the richest since statehood at $83
billion.
Lack of a sales tax and President Trump’s federal tax cuts were blamed by some
lawmakers as the culprits.
Now, more than ever,
citizens need to know that their local governments and the officials in them
have adequately prepared for any disasters that may arise. That is one of the
many reasons why I became certified through the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA).
When I served as
Clackamas County Commissioner from 2013 to 2017, I realized that there was a
lack of preparedness at the local level. That was especially troubling to me,
given that the county has over 400,000 residents and covers over one million
acres of land.
I wanted to do
everything possible to ensure that Clackamas County residents could benefit
from the best available knowledge and preparedness services. Something had to
be done, and that’s why I volunteered to become FEMA certified.
Obviously, I didn’t
know at the time that there would be an international outbreak of the
Coronavirus years later. Much of the emergency and disaster preparedness that
has taken place in Oregon is in anticipation of a major earthquake, as the
region is well overdue for one.
But I think that
regardless of the type of emergency that happens, people need to know that they
can rely on government to continue functioning. Leadership becomes more important
than ever, to ensure that citizens get the help they need and services are
still provided.
My FEMA training and
certification taught me what my leadership role would be in an emergency and
how to listen to health authorities, law enforcement and transportation
agencies to get daily life back to normal as quickly as possible for citizens.
The absolute most
important obligation that government has in disaster situations is to provide
for safety. Peoples’ lives and health can be protected by government agencies
if they do an adequate job of planning ahead. As such, financial reserves,
testing kits and education programs must be readily available.
Also critical is that
the health care system be protected. This is best done by ensuring that health
care professionals like doctors and nurses are able to do their jobs. It will
become much more difficult to care for sick patients if those professionals end
up quarantined.
Aside from the
immediate emergency, there are other long-term ramifications that government
officials must consider. One is the need to protect the economy. Financial
markets need to be stable. Peoples’ livelihoods and the ability to earn
paycheck must be maintained. When making decisions about how to respond to
disaster situations, government agencies should consider the effects that their
actions could potentially have on businesses. Ideally, those same agencies would
have budgets that are in good health and include adequate reserve funds. Any
prudently managed agency should plan ahead in good times and set funds aside in
case anything goes wrong. Failure to do so is nothing more than an abdication
of official duties.
In troubled times,
people look to governments, and the people who run them, to maintain public
confidence and instill trust. Through my
FEMA certification and training, I’ve learned the kinds of leadership skills
that can help Clackamas County residents through any potential crisis.
One
of the biggest reasons I’m running for chair of the Clackamas County Board of
Commissioners is the continued fiscal irresponsibility being shown by that
body. I strongly feel that the county is on the wrong track when it comes to
taxing and spending, and I am determined to fix it.
Throughout
my years of public service, I’ve faced many difficult budgetary decisions. But
I was always able to find a way to balance budgets and leave them in better
shape than I found them.
I
served in the Oregon House of Representatives from 2001 to 2005. That stint in
the Legislature included holding the position of Deputy Majority Leader and being
a member of the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee.
The
nation was still in the grips of recession, and the state budget was in
terrible shape. Revenues flowing into state coffers were declining. Many of my
legislative colleagues said that the only way to balance the budget was to
raise taxes.
However,
I knew that people were struggling as they yet to experience any sort of
economic recovery. I also believed strongly that raising their tax burden would
make life harder for them, their families and businesses throughout the state.
Along
with my colleagues, I set forth to identify and prioritize key services. We
also cut any spending that we felt was wasteful and unnecessary. Despite the challenges
involved, we balanced the budget without raising taxes.
I
inherited a similar situation when first elected to the Clackamas County Board
of Commissioners in November 2012. America was still coming out of its worst
economy in nearly 100 years, since the Great Depression.
Even
though there was constant pressure to raise taxes and fees, I listened to the
county residents who were my constituents and found a way to balance the
budget. In fact, the county’s budget had a surplus by the time my four-year
term ended in January 2017.
So
how has the county faired since then? Not nearly as well.
There
is no doubt that the national economy is now much better than it was when I
served in the Legislature and the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners. The
state of Oregon has experienced record revenues for years and so has Clackamas
County.
However,
the county has experienced a $20 million deficit over the past two years. Its
financial situation has gotten so dire that Sheriff Craig Roberts has public
called for an audit of the county’s funds.
To
make matters worse, commissioners voted to increase residents’ vehicle
registration fees. I successfully lead the charge to fight back against similar
vehicle registration fee increases when I served on the Board of Commissioners.
The
current Clackamas County Commissioners and its Chair Jim Bernard aren’t content
to let it stop there. They’re also supporting more bonds and taxes for Metro,
an agency with a very poor track record when it comes to spending the public’s
money.
Rather
than hold Metro accountable, Jim Bernard and the commissioners are putting you
on the hook for more multi-billion dollar mistakes.
Your choice in the upcoming Clackamas
County Commissioner chair’s race couldn’t be clearer. I am proud to stand
behind my record of balanced budgets and sound financial management. My top
priority was always to make sure that your hard-earned tax dollars were spent
wisely and responsibly, at both the state and county level.
Jim Bernard has demonstrated time and
again that he considers your pocketbook a source for bailouts for bungling bureaucrats
and their billion-dollar boondoggles.
As the next chair of the Clackamas County
Board of Commissioners, I will work tirelessly to ensure that the county’s
budget is not balanced on your back through unnecessary tax and fee increases.
I became FEMA certified because I wanted to ensure that our
citizens had best in class knowledge and preparedness services should an
emergency or disaster arise. When I was a county commissioner, we had
the foresight to realize that we were lacking in preparedness for a county
with 1.2 million acres. It was here I realized I had to do something, and
I volunteered to become FEMA certified.
Through my FEMA training and certification process, I learned what
my leadership role would be and how to listen to the health authorities, law
enforcement and transportation agencies to get our people back to normal as
quickly as possible.
Safety
is the First Obligation for Government During Coronavirus Situation
Government’s
role is to protect the life and health of its people by planning ahead.
Education programs, testing kits, and financial reserves must be readily
available.
Protect the health care system by ensuring our
doctors and nurses can do their jobs. If they are quarantined, who will care
for the sick.
Protect the economy. People’s jobs and the wages
they earn must be maintained. Markets must be stable as the world looks to
America for financial stability. This includes government budget health with
adequate reserves.
Government at all levels must maintain public
confidence, instill trust, and teach peace. Find a leader who does this.
During these uncertain times, we all are learning
how to lead and live lives not imaginable.
We are strong. We are resilient and we will conquer
this virus.
Why the New Clackamas County Courthouse Would be a Horrific Waste of Tax-Dollars
The
current Clackamas County Board of Commissioners has announced its plans to
build a new courthouse. There are many reasons I am opposed to this horrific
waste of taxpayer dollars.
For
one, polling has shown that 78 percent of county voters are against paying more
taxes for a new courthouse facility. That, in and of itself, should be enough
of a reason to oppose it.
The
new courthouse comes with an estimated cost of $230 million. Those costs would
be paid by county residents who are already feeling the impacts of $9 billion
in new taxes from the 2019 legislative session and the county’s increased
vehicle registration fee. Those layers of taxation don’t even include the multiple
tax increases being pursued by Metro.
These
increases are all being sought simultaneously by multiple layers of government,
from the county, Metro and the State of Oregon, regardless of the ability of
the average person to continue paying for it. Even if Clackamas County
residents are seeing wage increases, they are quickly eaten up by the spending
demands of county and state bureaucrats. All of these tax increases contribute
to the Portland area’s skyrocketing cost of living.
To
fund this unnecessary courthouse project, Clackamas County Board of
Commissioners Chair Jim Bernard and his cohorts want to impose an additional 17
cents per $1,000 of assessed value on property taxes. What this means is that a
homeowner whose property is valued at $350,000 will pay $595 more in property
taxes every year. It also means that housing will become less affordable for
everybody living in the county.
The
fact of the matter is, county residents are concerned about traffic congestion,
excessive government taxing and spending and homelessness. Having a nice, new
enough courthouse does not rank anywhere on their lists of priorities.
A
better, less cost option would be to consider leasing existing retail spaces
that are presently unoccupied or otherwise abandoned. That would keep property
on the tax rolls in perpetuity and require much less in the way of taxes from
citizens.
Voters
are growing increasingly angry over continued taxation as the only solution to
solving problems. They want leaders who will listen and who can think outside
the box. I’m running for chair of the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners
because my track record of public service proves my willingness to lead on
these issues.
Looking
at our problems with a new lens won’t cost money. But the cost of continuing down
the path of more taxing and more spending is disastrous. I’m more than happy to
provide an alternative to the status quo and its constant attempts to separate
you from your hard-earned tax dollars.
Politicians
often scoff at the idea that government agencies should budget the way that
businesses and households do. We’ve seen the disastrous consequences of that
approach at every level of government, from the trillions of dollars of federal
debt right down to the local level here in Clackamas County.
Think
about the way you balance your checkbook every month. You know how much you
have coming in through your paycheck and other sources of income. Many expenses
like rent are fixed. Others, like utility bills, vary from month to month. But
you put together your household budget based on what your income and expenses
are.
The
government tends to do the exact opposite.
Too
often, the approach in government is to put together a wish list of what
politicians and bureaucrats want, then declare a budget crisis when the tax
dollars coming in don’t reach whatever lofty amount they set for their
priorities. That so-called budget crisis is then used to justify more taxes and
fees coming out of your pocket. The end result is that it becomes more
difficult for you to balance your checkbook and pay your bills every month.
However,
the strain on your pocketbook is only an afterthought to politicians and
bureaucrats who forget that the funds they spend so freely come from you, the
hardworking taxpayer. Consequentially, they spend the money in ways that you,
as a responsible individual, would never think to do. Remember—politicians
don’t care how much money they spend or what they spend it on, because it isn’t
their money. It’s yours.
Can
you imagine if a business was run this way? It would keep raising the costs of
goods and services on customers, who would then take their business elsewhere.
That business would have no choice but to close its doors.
As
chair of the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners, I intend to take a common-sense
approach to managing tax dollars responsibly. Any decisions made about taxing
and spending will be done with the understanding that these resources come out
of the pockets of working people like you and need to go towards providing the
critical services you expect to receive.
I
stand firm against reckless and irresponsible spending and have always insisted
that government should live within its means, the same way that we do as
individuals, households and business owners.
