A letter from the
Eugene Police Commission
regarding SDC funding

Download the original letter in Word format.

October 17, 2002

To Whom It May Concern:

As a member of the Eugene Police Commission, I am writing you to ask for your support this legislative session to help improve public safety services in Oregon. The Eugene Police Commission is a twelve member citizen board that advises the City Council, Chief of Police and City Manager on police policy and resource issues. We are very concerned about the state of our public safety system in Eugene. Since 1980, Eugene’s population has grown almost three times as fast as the number of police officers serving the community. We understand that our situation is not unique. In fact, in terms of the number of sworn officers per capita, Oregon ranked 44^th in the nation.

Public safety (police, fire and emergency medical services) consumes a large portion of the general fund, and there are relatively few alternatives available to cities that would reduce the reliance on general fund money for these services. However, we believe that collecting impact fees, or system development charges (SDCs), for public safety is a very viable solution. SDCs are a well-established funding mechanism to help local jurisdictions offset the costs of capital facilities. Currently, Oregon law authorizes the use of SDCs for a handful of municipal services, none of which include public safety. The Police Commission believes this restriction is unreasonable, particularly as public safety is an essential municipal government function.

The Police Commission is not a lobbying organization, but we feel that a legislative change is necessary to allow local jurisdictions to consider making use of this legitimate revenue-raising option. This is not a new idea, as public safety impact fees are already in place in many other communities outside of Oregon. The Police Commission is requesting that cities sharing our concerns join a state-wide coalition to advocate for public safety SDCs. If a coalition of Mayors, City Councilors, Fire and Police Chiefs and concerned citizens are successful in this effort, then decisions as to whether public safety SDCs are appropriate or necessary can be made within each local jurisdiction.

We have attached some additional background information on SDCs for your review. Also, there is a draft resolution supporting public safety SDCs for you to share with other decision-makers in your community. After you have reviewed this information, we are asking that you:

1. Determine if there is interest in your community for joining a broad-based coalition in support of public safety SDCs;
2. Contact the Police Commission and let us know if you are willing to participate in this effort, from signing a letter of support to testifying during the legislative session.

We are requesting your response by Friday, November 15^th.

Based on the responses that we receive from this solicitation, we’ll be contacting you to let you know what our proposed next steps will be. Please feel free to call us for any further information at 682-5852 or by e-mail to our staff at "jeannine.parisi AT ci.eugene.or.us". I look forward to working with you in the future.

Regards,

John H. Brown, Chair
Eugene Police Commission
C/O Room 106, City Hall
777 Pearl Street
Eugene, OR 97401

Telephone: (541) 682-5852 ¨ Fax: (541) 682-8395

More resources:

  SDC overview (provided by the Eugene Police Commission)

  Draft resolution (provided by the Eugene Police Commission)

  How you can help

This page last modified on 2006-02-22 10:43.