City council members approved a $12 fee on single-family residence’s water bills at their Feb. 21 meeting but voted “no” on a controversial 3% tax for prepared food and beverages. It was based largely on a so-called “meals tax” in Ashland that funds the purchase of new park land.
The council decided to push the decision about a meals tax to voters in November. During a public comment period, a majority of residents voiced their support for police and firefighters – which the proposals were meant to fund – but spoke against the tax.
Grants Pass faces an estimated $3.3 million gap in funding public safety services like police and firefighters.
The per month utility fee, which charges large commercial properties up to thousands of dollars, will plug that hole but will not be enough to hire more staff. At the meeting, city council member Brian DeLaGrange said it’s not a permanent solution because of ballooning costs related to public safety.
“We've been trying to work on this problem for years. Putting this all on the utility fee is essentially taking all those years of work that we've done and just kick[ing] the can down the road a year or two,” he said.
Council member Valerie Lovelace said funding the status quo for firefighters isn’t enough.
“We are understaffed and have been for years. We have two firefighters to a fire engine. The standard in Southern Oregon… is three. So we are skating by,” said Lovelace.
Grants Pass has a history of voting against raising local taxes. Residents voted against increasing a property levy by ten cents in 2020. They also voted against city and county sales taxes, most recently in 2022.
