Proposal:
To bring together the city of Tigard’s police and public works departments from diverse buildings and spaces under one roof, the city is proposing a $150 million, 30-year bond to pay for a single building campus.
The building space is expected to measure up to 120,000 square feet, equivalent to an extra-large department store, somewhat more than half devoted to the police department. The building would be constructed on two or three floors, including a basement.
The police portions of the building would feature a 24/7 operations center, evidence storage, holding areas, interview and investigative rooms, training and community rooms and a seismically resilient structure.
The public works portions would include administrative offices, fleet maintenance boys, storage for heavy equipment and materials and a covered and outdoor operational yard.
Location:
The new center would be built on industrially zoned land near the intersection of Southwest Hunzinger Road and Southwest 72nd Street.
Cost:
To pay off the proposed $150 million bond, the owner of a Tigard home with an average assessed value of $344,406 is projected to pay $263.47 a year, or $22 a month, if the bond passes, triggering taxes that would take effect in the fall.
The tax mechanism is based on the assessed value of a homeowner’s home. This figure is not the average market value, which, in Tigard, is about $600,000. The assessed value is usually much lower. Owners of homes worth more or less than the average can calculate their exposure by multiplying the number of thousands in their homes’ assessed values by a so-called millage rate of 76.5 cents.
As examples, the owner of a home assessed at $500,000 would pay 500 x .765 = $382.50, or $31.88 a month, while the owner of a home assessed at $250,000 would pay 250 x .765 = $191.25, or $15.93 a month.
All that said, if voters passed the bond measure, the taxation rate actually would fluctuate until the city of Tigard sold its debt on the bond market and secured its final millage rate in the summer.
Voting:
For votes on Measure 34-349 to be counted, voters must either mail their ballots with a U.S. Postal Service date stamp of no later than May 19, election day, or bring them to drop boxes no later than 8 p.m. that day. (Add location)
Pros & Cons:
Arguments in favor of the new center may be found in the accompanying story about city leaders mounting their final pitches for the project and in a video described there (tigardlife.com/go/project).
Key arguments in opposition – that the project is too expensive, that the city has more pressing problems, that other cities have less expensively added key new buildings – may be found in social-media forums, including Tigard Life’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/tigardlife), and opinion pieces submitted by our readers below.
Resources:
Peruse the ballot listing for Measure 34-349 at tigardlife.com/go/2026Bond and pull up the measure’s section.
Watch city leadership’s presentation at the State of Our City Event at tigardlife.com/go/SOOC.
