Garbage Dumping Fees: The Tide Has Changed

DOUGLAS COUNTY GARBAGE DUMPING FEES.

WE HAVE ENTERED A NEW ERA OF TAXATION.

     About 20 years ago, Douglas County Commissioners held an advisory vote. The simple question was whether or not Douglas County residents supported a new garbage dumping fee at the county landfill and transfer stations, to help pay for county services. Douglas County voters overwhelming voted no; I believe the advisory vote failed by about a two-to-one margin. (I don't have the patience today to do the research on line to verify the year of the vote and the exact number of votes. This election was held before the internet, and before the posting of election returns on  line.)
     Last night's election changed the tone of voters' support for new fees. Specifically, during a October candidates forum before the Roseburg Chamber of Commerce, three of the six candidates for Douglas County Commissioner indicated they supported a new garbage dumping fee. It wasn't that they directly said "we need new taxes." But it was more of a sense of resignation that a new garbage dumping fee was a done deal, and there was nothing they could do about it.
     Candidate Gary Leif was the only candidate who actively campaigned that he would keep the county landfill a free service for as a long as possible. And while garbage dumping fees certainly aren't the most important issue facing local politics, it surprisingly was the only issue that distinguished the commissioner candidates from one another. All six candidates were basically on the same page on all of the issues that were publicized, with the possible exception of the proposed liquefied natural gas pipeline between central Oregon and the Pacific coast.
     Therefore...because garbage dumping fees were about the only issue that divided the candidates (unless wants to ascribe a "R" or a "D" as a reason for voting for a candidate in a non-partisan race)...I believe the November 4th election was a referendum on a proposed garbage dumping tax. In a six-way race, pro-garbage dumping fee candidate Chris Boice won the election with 42 percent of the vote, compared to second-place winner Gary Leif with 34 percent of the vote.
     When I campaigned for Douglas County Commissioner in the past, I always campaigned against garbage dumping fees or other new tax proposals. IF the county revenue problem became serious enough where public safety (the sheriff's office's ability to protect the county was compromised), then I said any garbage dumping fee proposal should be on the table with all other county services. In other words, if the county enacted the garbage dumping fee to make the public works department self-sustaining, then other proposed fees should also be considered at the county library to make it self-sustaining, new fees at the county parks to keep them self-sustaining, etc.
     The bottom line is that I believe the VOTERS should have input on which new fees to approve or reject. It's arbitrary for Douglas County Commissioners to only consider a regressive tax (garbage dumping fee) which hits low-income people the hardest, without also considering other new taxes that are more optional in nature (i.e., not everyone is forced to pay for them). Everyone is legally forced to dispose of their garbage in a sanitary manner. Not everyone is forced to use the county libraries or county parks.
      If I ever run again for Douglas County Commissioner, garbage dumping fees will not be part of my campaign platform. By electing a pro-garbage dumping fee candidate over a non-garbage dumping fee candidate, Douglas County voters have made it clear they either support or are indifferent toward imposing a new garbage dumping tax.
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     Referendum may have been too strong of a word, considering that the winning candidate did not receive a majority of the votes. But I definitely believe the tide has changed in regards to garbage dumping fees, for a couple of reasons.
     This is the first Douglas County commissioner's race, where some candidates have openly endorsed/accepted a proposed new garbage dumping tax. Also, there were relatively few (hardly any) letters to the editor in local newspapers protesting a new garbage dumping fee. In the past, the newspapers were bombarded with anti-garbage fee letters, WITHOUT any of the commissioners even supporting a fee. It was in the discussion stage only.
     The one time when a garbage dumping tax was introduced by the county's budget committee, in 1990, the county commissioners' office was flooded with phone calls and letters, objecting to a fee. I still remember Douglas County Commissioner Doug Robertson calling a press conference (KPIC-TV, KOBI-TV, KMTR-TV, and KLSR-TV all had reporters present) to announce no fee would be imposed.