Mayors, chamber endorse Public Safety Levy

Every mayor in Coos County and the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce have endorsed the Public Safety Levy that Coos County Commissioners have placed on the May 21 Primary Election ballot.

John Sweet, Coos County commissioner, said the leaders of the Coos County Democratic Party also have endorsed the levy, which asks county voters to approve a five-year tax levy of 98 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

County officials say the measure would raise $5.7 million the first year. The money would be dedicated to increasing the capacity of the Coos County Jail and hiring two new deputy district attorneys.

“One thing that I sense has been under-discussed is the positive impact of the levy on people whose crimes do not warrant incarceration,” Sweet said. Our Parole and Probation Department has significant addiction and behavioral counseling available, particularly to those whose crimes and behavior do not warrant incarceration. Right now, the county has over eight times more people in Parole and Probation than in jail.”

Sweet said the county Parole & Probation Department’s capacity is for more than 600 people, yet the staff is serving just a few more than 400.

That’s because “the county cannot afford enough prosecutors to handle the level of criminal activity we are experiencing,” he said. “The Public Safety Levy will add prosecutors, which will result not only in more people being incarcerated, but also in potentially more being assigned to Parole & Probation.

April 30 is the deadline to register to vote or to change party affiliation for the May Primary Election. The Coos County Elections Department will mail ballots to all registered voters by May 2.

County Counsel Colton Totland said commissioners directed county staff Jan. 16 to prepare a ballot title for the proposed levy. He said Sheriff Gabriel “Gabe” Fabrizio and Megan Simms, county finance director, collaborated on it.

Fabrizio announced this month the Coos County Jail would double its capacity to 98 beds on April 27. He called the expansion a “significant milestone, which will enable us to better serve our community and contribute to a safer Coos County.”

Since Fabrizio was elected in 2022, he and his command staff have worked to replace corrections and patrol deputies who were lost to attrition, retirements, and better-paying departments.

Since the beginning of 2023, the Sheriff’s Office has rehired 27 percent of overall staff, and these deputies have been trained at the state’s Department of Public Safety Standards and Training Academy in Salem.

“The Coos County Sheriff’s Office is excited about adding this additional jail space, which will assist the Sheriff’s Office and local law enforcement agencies in combating crime within Coos County and beyond,” Fabrizio said.

The jail’s capacity had been just 48 beds, but on Feb. 12 the sheriff swore in the last corrections deputy needed to increase the inmate capacity to 98.

“This levy will open one more pod, requiring seven corrections deputies, two more assistant cooks and one more control-room operator,” he said, “and two more deputy district attorneys.”

Tax funds received as a result of the levy would be placed in a restricted public safety fund that would be audited annually. Audit results would be made public, Totland said, adding that the levy, if voters approve it, would expire June 30, 2029. The levy would allow the sheriff to expand the jail from 98 to 147 beds and would add two county prosecutors.

County Commissioner Robert “Bob” Main said the county has a $4 million shortfall and that’s why the commissioners are asking voters to approve the tax measure. The county’s annual property tax receipts of $6 million “doesn’t even cover the cost of running the jail,” he said. “The general fund can’t even survive keeping the jail open. In the past, taxes weren’t raised because of revenue from timber receipts.”

County Treasurer Megan Simms said the jail’s annual expenditures total more than $7.8 million.

Sweet said he thinks “this is one of the most important actions that this board has proposed in the 10-11 years that I’ve been a commissioner.” He said the district attorney’s office is backlogged 1,400 cases. Even if suspects were prosecuted, he said, they likely wouldn’t go to jail unless they were convicted of a serious felony.

If voters approve the tax measure, the owner of a property assessed at $200,000 would pay $196 per year ($16.33 per month) to support the jail and the district attorney’s office, according to information prepared by Fabrizio and District Attorney Paul Frasier. A property assessed at $300,000 would pay $294 per year (or $24.50 per month).