A Perfect Fiscal Storm in Southern Oregon

In Southeastern Oregon, a perfect fiscal storm has been brewing for years, and Josephine and Curry counties are facing the prospect of bankruptcy, with unknown consequences.  According to an audit prepared by the Secretary of State, the county has already reduced services to a dangerous level.

Curry has the second lowest property tax rate in Oregon and is heavily reliant on federal timber payments.  The county’s unemployment rate has remained high, and spending on public safety is in the bottom 10 among counties.

 According to an article in the Oregonian, time is about to run out, sooner for Curry county, but Josephine is not far behind.

The spreading sense of crisis is coming to a head this month, with officials at the local, state and federal level all feeling pressure to head off the threat of what some darkly describe as Oregon's "zombie counties."

In Salem, legislators are working on legislation that would allow the state to take over some county functions. More drastically, they are considering a bill that would allow the governor -- with the approval of legislative leaders and local officials -- to impose a temporary local income tax to preserve basic police, court and jail operations.
 In Washington, D.C., legislation aimed at increasing logging on federal timberlands in western Oregon is starting to move through Congress after being stalled for years, and pressure is building on Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., to take charge of the process.
Wyden, the new chairman of the committee with jurisdiction over federal forests, promises to come up with a strategy and timeline this month for putting together a bill he thinks can pass Congress and be signed into law.
He says local approval of levy requests would help him sell lawmakers on the plan, which Wyden has already said would include extending federal timber payments to the counties for another year or two.
If those measures pass, he said, "it takes off the table the issue that these communities aren't stepping up."

Josephine and Curry have the lowest tax rates in Oregon and voters have stubbornly kept it that way.  At some point their wounds may be deemed to be largely self inflicted, and they may get higher taxes forced on them by whoever has to bail them out.  If voters turn down the public safety levy on the ballot this month in both counties, their law enforcement will completely collapse, it's on life support already.  They will close their jails and who knows what's next?

"We can't ignore it," said Rep. Bruce Hanna, R-Roseburg, adding that a governor can't simply tell the public that it's not safe to travel through some counties.