County: $40 per taxpayer to fully fund jail
EUGENE, Ore. -- There has been a definite spike in crime since the release of 32 inmates from the Lane County Jail on Thursday, sheriff's officials said.
The Eugene Police Department said that they have already arrested two people that were released from jail yesterday.
Police arrested one of the men for robbing a Eugene bank less than an hour after he was released.
Another man, 48-year-old Steven Berry, was released on Thursday evening as a part of the jail's "capacity based release" program.
Police arrested Berry on Friday morning for breaking into a car.
Jail Captain Greg Fox said that the solution to the revolving door at the Lane County Jail is to fund all of the 500 beds at the facility.
The latest cuts only leave enough funding for 205 beds at the Lane County Jail.
"I'm frustrated that we can't get some additional funding to open the beds that we need to have open." Captain Fox told KVAL's Tom Adams.
Fox said that it would cost up to $9,000,000 a year to open all of the jail beds and staff all of the prison wings.
Alex Cuyler, the Government Relations Manager for the county, affirmed that the public safety system in Lane County is in crisis.
County commissioners said they are set to talk over possibilities for funding the jail next week.
One option that will be talked over is a $.50 per thousand tax levy for public safety. The levy would mean a tax increase of about $40 per taxpayer.
In a commissioner poll that tax levy would have passed with a thin margin of a 52% majority.
However the voters in Lane County haven't passed a public safety measure in 14 years.
"They've recognized that the measures we've gone for in the past have been very comprehensive, but they have also failed." said Cuyler.
The commissioners decided against a November election to decide on the funding.
eugene is a mess. gladly, i moved out of there and away from what seems to be a diminishing community. i have always loved eugene, my parents lived there before i was born, i lived there for two years, but it's not the same eugene. it's overrun with crime and drugs. i got involved with the wrong crowd and saw many of my "friends" commit some pretty terrible crimes and they weren't ever afraid of getting arrested because they know they would be released in a matter of no time. i've been home for eight months reading the news, looking at mugshots and seeing the same people get introuble for the same things over and over again and all that ever comes of it is a simple book and release. it's so frustrating, not only is it not good for the community, they also are not providing those kids the help and direction they need to stay out of trouble! so many young kids with drug problems being arrested for possesion charges when the solution may be as easy as two weeks in jail to detox! come on lane county, do what's best for everyone and open up those beds! eugene is too awesome of a place to let the criminals run it. take your city back!
Cost of a single U of O football ticket $60, cost of keeping violent felons out of our community $40/year, trying to educate the misinformed malcontents of Lane County about the pending collapse of law enforcement in our community...impossible. Private businesses have the luxury of raising prices to mitigate increases in operating costs. EWEB has the luxury of raising utility rates as needed without seeking voter approval. The Sheriff of Lane County cannot do either. Further, he has been charged with the impossible task of running a law enforcement agency with significant reductions in operating costs every year. In those same years, EWEB has been able to dramatically increase revenue by simply raising our fees on utilities. Imagine trying the run EWEB for the last 10 years without increasing our utility rates or, as the Sheriff's Office has done, with a reduced budget every year. The sheep in our community can go back to eating grass and never mind the wolves creeping up behind you...you could run but that that would require expending resources. Also, there is also a chance that the sheep next to you looks tastier or appears weaker. Letâs blame our local issues on corruption, fiscal mismanagement, PERS, unions or whatever keeps the problem off your responsibility radar. Maybe we should look at what other successful counties, Washington County or Deschutes County, are doing differently from Lane County. Educate ourselves and become a part of the solution, not a victim of the problem.
Almost without exception every public run entity in this State is in trouble financially. What is it going to take to get the good people of Oregon to start electing people that are fiscally responsible. Is it going to take total collapse? Now I see EWEB is in trouble again. The private sector can't afford all the luxuries being demanded by the unions. Not everyone can be in a union, it just does not work that way. Where is the money going to come from when the system collapses? There really isn't any such thing as perpetual motion. One has to deal with the resistance factor. Please let common sense prevail. Honor and Truth.
Step one ,release inmates early.... step two, get the propoganda outlets (kval) to do a scary story.... step three, bombard taxpayers for more money....I will NOT vote to give the police state more money.
Even if we give'em MORE money they will still let'em out we as a city suck at locking up criminals !! Hey I've got an idea why not lock up KITTY P. Just saying maybe she'd run the city better=))
 @IAMHIGH Well. at least you admit you don't know what you're talking about. That's a start.....
@calmplexx Sometimes I do =) How about You?
 @IAMHIGH You may be wherever you want to be, but the stupidity of what you wrote comes by way of the fact that it's the County that runs the jail while she is Eugene city mayor. You may like or dislike her, but bringing her into the discussion let's us know you don't have a clue what you're posting....
@calmplexx That may be true but i'll still be here posting and there's nothing ya can do about it...sticks and stones myfriend=)
 @IAMHIGH Based on what you wrote, you really are high. Stop writing until you get better....
@calmplexx Maybe I am high and have You ever wrote or said stupid S hit......Yep your last comment was just that STUPID=) I'll still be here and there so deal with what i write
K . But i still like ya=)
It's a spending problem, not a tax problem.
@PEANUT Exactly, well said.
lane county spent $316,000,000 on public safety services last year. thats a little more than $866,000 a day!.. they are full of it to try and tell me they cannot keep prisoners locked up when they are spending this kind of money.Â
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 @Grizzled dear grizzled what a mean thing to say... you need to check your figures my friend ,as you are dead wrong.( 2011 budget) Perhaps you should come out of your mothers basement and join the real world for a change of pace. P.S. you link does not work...
Give them more, and they will just keep asking for more.
I don't believe that the commissioners know what they are talking about - it would be more money tossed down a black hole for them to play with- they are playing games with the taxpayers with this kind of talk. They couldn't manage their money before- and are pouring all kinds of money into the 'Lame Count Sheriff' who can't manage his own budget. Â He still gets paid, doesn't he? Stop paying for the homeless BS and put the money into LE ..or live with the consequences.
Maybe if they fixed the fact that PERS a few years ago pays way too much to some retired people. I recall a news article that PERS pays Mike Belotti $40,000 a month. Wonder how many others get crazy money on PERS while we tax payers who are barely scraping a living pay it? When people make more in PERS than they made working, its not fair! Keep releasing people from jail who should not be coming out and when someone gets hurt or killed, they will most likely sue the already cash strapped county. Â
@KenzieDogg Be patient, the word is getting out, when ever a Left Liberal Governor like Kitzhauber mentions reigning in PERS you know there is a serious problem. Question is will they really do it, or just try to quiet the waters.
If you turned off Fox News and opened a newspaper once in a while you'd see that he was talking about reforming PERS this week!
@Grizzled What is this with Fox News anyway? Do you people hate the truth so bad that one News Channel threatens you. Talk is cheap. Let us see what the Gov. really does if he gets a bill reforming PERS. In the mean time why don't you try not to call names and just state your opinion.
I would LOVE to support the jail and law enforcement and you say $40 will open ALL the beds. I'd love to believe you but I have NO doubt that in one year you'd come back and say we're closing "X number of beds" because we're short of money! THIS COMMUNITY IS JUST A MESS!!!
NO. What part about no more money don't you understand? I guess it's true you can't fix stupid!
City, county, state and federal government is a never ending black hole, no matter what we pay it's never enough. Â There is so much excess baggage in all government I think it's time they all cut back, get a realistic budget and work with what they have like the rest of the citizens have been forced to do. Â Every time we turn around someone is wanting more tax but we've got very little to show for what we pay. Â The government is just to big but Oregon voters keep voting the same old tired politicians in to stay. Â This is the classic description of insanity.
No. You can't have it. Not until the bozos running the county can make county government learn to live within their means like everyone else.
If the the money was dedicated to the "Jail".  Not buying the Sheriffs department fully loaded Tahoes to drive, buying paramilitary gear to wear, paying for PERS, but for Jail operations.  i wouldn't mind the extra money.  I can guaranty you all that the county would find a magic loop hole to route the money elsewhere and we'd be in the same boat soon.  how a bout cutting non essential services, privatizing the health department, privatizing the road maintenance and the waste disposal departments for a start?
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The levy would mean a tax increase of about $40 per taxpayer.  How long will that last, one year? This would be another bandaid. Why do they refuse to address the issue. Government wages, salaries and benefits out pace the private sector. Take Social Security as an example. For the last several years there was no COLA because according to the feds there was no inflation. In 2013 they say that there will be a COLA of 1.7%. Why not tie all Government emloyees to the same COLA as social security. Then you have them contribute 6% to their retirement plan that is matched by Government (Currently taxpayers foot the entire bill). Then on other benefits you negotiate them to be equivalent to average private sector benefits. Now you have to take the Governor, the Legislators, and the Judges out of the PERS and into their own plan that they contribute to also. Then we would have negotiating powers with the Unions. As it stands there is absolutely no reason to negotiate because they all reap the same benefit in the end, from top to bottom. What kind of system is that? That my friends is a corrupt system designed to bilk the hard working taxpayers that keep government going in the first place.
If I knew the money was really going to help with the jail system I would have no issues. But since we pay extra taxes for buying gas to help the roads...cough cough and as I drive down the pot hole roads. I can not support this idea, but I do realize that something does need to be done, is this the right way when this area has a high unemployment rate? I think the comissioners need to go back to the drawing board,
Until the Sheriff can levy for a different way of funding his department I fear he is fighting a losing battle. The biggest issue he faces is that his budget is coming from a "general fund" in the county. That makes it too easy for a county, where it's constituents obviously do not trust their elected officials, to simply re-allocate the funds wherever they see fit. If Lane County wants to pass a tax measure they must first pass some kind of charter or policy that would create a law enforcement fund with a dedicated amount going towards it and any levies passed for public safety could be directly deposited in. In it's current form Lane County can promise you one thing and then when the money goes to the general fund make it disappear just as fast without the Sheriff seeing a dime.
I would be more then happy to pay an additional $40.00 a year (If a independant board was set up to see that all the money went to the Sherif and jail, no where else)
Before any more taxes are levied, we need to know how much money was collected or allocated to Lane County, where it went, and how many tax subsidies were given by the County. Don't ask anymore of us if those questions aren't answered. Each Commissioner should send out emails to their constituents explaining the shortfall with actual facts. If not, then no, you can't get more of our money.
 @calmplexx You can take 10 minutes and research Lane Counties budget online. It is all there for every department.
 @Chemla Then it would be just as simple for the Commissioners to get that information, explain why there is a shortfall and why they believe we need the tax increase, explain how it's going to be used specifically for the issue at hand, and have a public record of where each of those people stand on the issue. Of course I can look that up, but that doesn't begin to do the job of finding out where each of those elected officials stand on the issue. I can't attend Commissioner meetings during a working day. They can do their jobs for their constituents by using electronic means...