Vote Yes St. Helens Police Protection Ballot Measure 5-298

For decades the citizens of St. Helens enjoyed artificially low property taxes because it had at least five, timber-associated industrial plants that paid, through their taxes, an artificially large portion for city-provided services.

In 1997 Oregonians approved Measure 50, a tax limitation measure, which froze property tax rates to then current levels, locking St. Helens citizens into one of the lowest property tax rates in Oregon.

Today, the five lumber/paper/gypsum mills are gone, as is their large portion of property taxes paying for city services. As a consequence all city services – water, sewer, roads, library, police, etc. - have suffered and fallen behind levels normal for comparable Oregon cities. Facilities are mostly insufficient and personnel are stretched thin.

According to FBI figures and national averages, the St. Helens Police Department should have 36 police officers. The department has 21. St. Helens Ballot Measure 5-298 gives citizens an opportunity to help ease this personnel shortage by funding four new officers. Though not a panacea, four additional officers will ease the expensive overtime required of the existing force ($309,000 for overtime last year), return a law enforcement presence to our schools, shorten the backlog of domestic violence and assault cases, ensure effective response to any major incident, and maintain 24-hour protection for the City.

We no longer have the luxury of industry paying for our services but we do have the ability to improve the safety of our citizenry by voting YES on St. Helens Ballot Measure 5-298.

Lew Mason,

St. Helens