This bond does not align with the city’s continually professed goal of keeping Tigard affordable. It is bloated and twice oversized. The plan should have been to maintain quality community policing without breaking the backs of homeowners through excessive taxation.
If passed, this $150,000,000 bond will be paid by homeowners over 30 years at 76 cents per thousand of assessed home value. The average assessed Tigard home value is $344,409. As such, this bond will cost the average homeowner $263 for the first year. However, since local property assessed values increase by 3% per year, the annual cost will also increase by 3% each year, and the final annual payment will be $619. The TOTAL cost over the 30 years for the average assessed homeowner will be $12,514.
Despite what the city says, there is no need for “location synergy” that would require moving public works into a facility adjacent to the police department. They are two distinctly different and divergent functions that would share little in common except a parking lot.
There are at least two good options that the city could have taken to improve the situation for the police and public works at half the cost. There is no good reason that BOTH departments need to be moved and rebuilt.
The first option, at half the cost, would have been to build a new police department on the nine acres of city-owned land, while the public works department could easily expand into the vacated police department. This would give the police department the room they want to include a training facility and firing range.
Alternatively, the police could expand into the existing public works facility, and the public works department could move to a new off-site facility. There is a good argument to be made that the citizenry would be well served by having the police department with a visible community presence next to city hall and other city services. Furthermore, in this option, the police could forgo building a training facility and firing range and instead use the excellent facility that was recently built in Hillsboro for Washington County.
The city often claims that Tigard’s taxes are lower than those of surrounding cities. Yes, and let’s keep it that way. Nobody wants Portland taxes to aspire to. If you pay attention to Portland news, you know they are way overtaxed and in dire financial straits despite the heavy taxation. A bloated government leads to mismanagement, as Portland suffers. Tigard is not a wealthy city with thousands of high-paying white-collar jobs like our neighbors. Tigard needs to grow smartly and affordably.
Vote NO on this bloated bill and ask the city to come back with a plan at half this cost to move only the police or public works facility. This bond cost is way over the top and throws the chains of additional tax burdens on Tigard homeowners that they cannot afford.
