Hogan calls for new revenues to fund police positions

Camas Mayor Steve Hogan is calling on Camas City Council members to approve new revenue sources that will keep a “status quo” budget for the City in 2025 and 2026, and also provide enough revenues to hire three new Camas Police Department supervisors.

Camas Finance Analyst Debra Brooks and Camas Finance Director Cathy Huber Nickerson presented more information about the mayor’s draft 2025-26 budget during the Council’s workshop on Monday, Oct. 21.

Currently, the City is facing a $3 million revenue shortfall over the course of the 2025-26 biennial budget. Huber Nickerson and Brooks said Monday that, in 2023, it became apparent that the City would be facing a revenue shortfall in the coming years.

“It became clear that revenues would be stagnant,” Brooks told Council members Monday, adding that new revenues would be necessary to avoid making any major cuts to services and to fund the $1.25 million “decision package” that would add two night sergeants, one lieutenant and retirement overhires to the police department in a bid to, as Huber Nickerson and Brooks said in their presentation, “focus on urgent, long-delayed public safety needs.”

Other departments would be able to sustain their current services through 2025-26 if Council members approve the mayor’s suggested revenue sources — including taking the City’s state-allowed 1% increase to the overall property tax levy amount, creating a transportation benefit district to fund the City’s street maintenance and other street-related needs, implementing higher service fees and business license fees, and asking voters to approve a 6% utility tax on City utilities such as water, garbage and sewer services.

“To get to that status-quo budget we do need to present new sources of revenue,” Brooks said.

The new police hires would provide a higher level of staffing at the Camas Police Department overnight, Brooks said, and would include a lieutenant to ensure that supervisory duties did not rely on just one person, which Brooks described as “good from a best-practice standpoint.”

Those positions, along with retirement “overhires” who would work with retiring police staff during their transition away from the department, are expected to cost the City an additional $595,195 in 2025 and $662,500 in 2026.

During the Council’s first October workshop, held Oct. 7, Camas Police Chief Tina Jones told Council members that her department was in dire need of more supervisors, particularly during the overnight shift.

“In the prior (2023-24) budget we had some positions in there that we weren’t able to get funded, along with a lot of other positions in the city,” Jones said during the Oct. 7 workshop. “Not having adequate supervisory positions in the police department in 2024 scares me to death, to be quite honest. A few years ago we went through pretty significant reckoning for police departments and we’re still lacking in a couple areas — and supervisory is one of them.”

Jones said there are two areas that open police departments up to lawsuits. One is a lack of training and the other is a deficiency in supervision.

“As a chief it is critically important for me to share with you where I see the highest risk (of) liability,” Jones said. “We do not have adequate supervision. We have not added a supervisor (position) to the department in over 20 years, and a lot has changed in 20 years.”

Jones added that the police department has four hours each night when two of the department’s least tenured officers work without a sergeant present.

“It’s untenable and is not providing the best we can for our city and our department,” Jones said.

The police chief added that, in the next five years, about 45% of Camas’ sworn police staff will be eligible for retirement.

“That is a significant part of our staff that will be new,” Jones told Council members on Oct. 7. “They do a phenomenal job trying to figure it out themselves, but we really need supervisory direction as well … That’s why we make sure we’re hiring good, quality people with good decision-making (abilities) because sometimes we do need them to go out without a lot of supervision.”

Council members call for budget showing reductions

Two Council members present at Monday night’s workshop — Councilwoman Leslie Lewallen was absent — said they would like to see a 2025-26 budget showing the reductions that are possible without the new revenue sources.

“I know what’s proposed is a status quo budget, but I would really like to see a reduction in budget,” Councilman Tim Hein said Monday. “Right now, I don’t see any other options.”

Hein said he would like to see a budget with 5% cuts to compare it to the mayor’s status-quo budget.

“What’s the trade off? So we can see how reductions in budget affects services provided,” Hein said. “I assume there will be a reduction in services, but what are those services? That would add detail and (Council members) could have a good budget discussion. What are the details? I’d like to see that in the future.”

Councilwoman Jennifer Senescu also said she would like to see a budget with cuts to services.

“This budget is assuming a 1% property tax (levy increase), a 0.1 percent transportation benefit district (sales tax) and a 6% utility tax. I lend my support to what Council member Hein said. (I’d like to see) reduction and reorganization before further taxes.”

Councilman John Svilarich disagreed with Hein and Senescu.

“I have no interest in seeing a 5% reduction,” Svilarich said. “We’re not going to get out of this hole with reductions. Do we want to be a city that is constantly cutting things to the bone and reducing services, then hoping we can attract good people to work for us?”

On Monday, Brooks and Huber Nickerson explained the possible revenue sources that could balance the mayor’s proposed “status quo” budget and add the new police department hires. Those sources include taking a 1% property tax levy increase as allowed by state law. This does not mean Camas residents would see a 1% increase on their property tax bill. Rather, it would increase the total property tax levy amount by 1%, and add about $154,000 to the City’s general fund.

“That’s one (full-time equivalent position),” Huber Nickerson told City officials on Monday. “Our largest revenue source only generates enough money for one FTE a year. Keep that in mind.”

Camas taxpayers will see a decrease to their property tax bill that goes toward the City’s general fund regardless of whether Council members opt to take the 1% property tax levy increase or not. If the City takes its lawful 1% property tax levy increase, the owners of a median-priced home in Camas ($658,000) would still see a $6 decrease in their annual property tax bill. If the Council does not take the 1% increase, the average homeowner would see a decrease of about $18 a year, but the City’s general fund would have $154,000 less per year to pay for services such as police, fire, parks and streets.

Huber Nickerson explained that the Council’s other option — not taking the 1% increase but banking it for future allocation — would also cost the City in the long run as the increase would not compound over time.

“The 1% is a slippery slope,” Huber Nickerson said. “If you bank it, that does not mean you get what you’d get today. It will be somewhat less. And, in 10 years, that could grow to be over $10 million (lost from not taking the 1% increase).”

Councilman John Nohr, who joined Hein, Senescu and Lewallen in 2023 to block the 1% property tax levy increase, said Monday night that he regretted that decision.

“That was my first night as a city council member,” Nohr said. “I will never not take the 1% (increase) again because it compounds in such a way that it’s very difficult to make up for it.”

Nohr urged Council members to look at Clark County, a jurisdiction that has not taken its lawful 1% property tax levy increase for the past few years.

“Having not taken it for seven years in a row, they are in an extreme structural deficit and are going to have to cut a lot of services to get out of it,” Nohr said.

Transportation benefit district, 6% utility tax, increased fees on the table

Another of the mayor’s proposed revenue sources would come from an increase in City-provided service fees and business licenses — raising the majority of the City’s fees by 10% and increasing the business license fee from $10 to $50, making it more equitable amongst Clark County cities, which all charge more than Camas for a business license.

Those two changes would add approximately $360,000 to the City’s general fund. If the Council does not approve the fee and license increases, the City will likely face a reduction of three to four full-time positions, staff noted during Monday night’s workshop.

The Council also discussed a proposal to implement a transportation benefit district, which could charge a 0.1% sales tax and/or a $20 to $50 annual vehicle tab fee that would start at $20 a year for the first two years and could gradually increase to $30, $40 and eventually $50 a year.

City staff said Monday that the vehicle tab fee is a more stable revenue source, but that the sales tax would also capture people who come to Camas to shop and who are putting wear and tear on the City’s roads. The proceeds from the transportation benefit district would help Camas pay for its street maintenance and other road-related costs and take some burden away from the City’s general fund, which also pays for services such as parks, recreation, police and fire.

The sales tax option is expected to generate $500,000 for the City in 2025, while the vehicle tab fees would likely bring in $570,000 in 2025.

Steve Wall, the City’s public works director, said Monday that the transportation benefit district funds could help the City pay for several transportation improvements, including improvements at: Brady Road, between McIntosh and Northwest 16th Avenue; Northwest 16th Avenue between Brady Road and Hood Street; Northwest Pacific Rim Drive between Parker and Endicott streets); and Northeast Ingle Road north of Goodwin Street.

Other Clark County cities have transportation benefit districts to help fund street-related maintenance and other road projects. Battle Ground and Vancouver each have a 0.1 % sales tax for their transportation benefit districts, while Ridgefield and Woodland impose a 0.2% sales tax and Washougal and Vancouver each have vehicle tab fees of $20 and $40, respectively.

On Monday, a few of the Council members said the idea of implementing a transportation benefit district with a 0.1% sales tax and a $20 vehicle tab fee appealed to them.

“I would be in favor of both since the objective is to include everybody who’s using the streets,” Hein said, adding that even with that possible new revenue source he still wanted to see a budget that included reductions in services.

“I’m gently in favor of both,” Councilwoman Marilyn Boerke said Monday, speaking about the transportation benefit district’s sales tax and vehicle tab fee options. “The $1.1 million or whatever that number is — I’m very concerned about our deficit and having seen other cities doing both, I’m intrigued by that idea.”

Senescu said she was not in favor of either option, but said she would consider the 0.3% sales tax option available under the transportation benefit district if voters approved that option.

“Since we’re already (considering) putting a 6% utility tax to the vote of the people … it wouldn’t cost much more to see if folks want (the transportation benefit district sales tax).”

Nohr said he believed the 0.1% sales tax might help distribute the burden more equally amongst Camas road users, but that he had “no strong position on either” option.

Earlier this month, Hogan said he would like Council members to also approve a plan that would pull the “sunset clause” on the City’s 2% utility tax, which is set to expire at the end of this year, and go out to voters during the Feb. 21, 2025, election to approve a 6% utility tax.

The new utility tax would fund Hogan’s proposed police positions.

“The utility tax is one way of picking up a portion of the deficit,” Hogan said.

When the Council passed the temporary 2% utility tax in late 2022, officials said they wanted to help steer Camas away from a looming structural deficit as the costs of running the City begin to outpace available revenues.

The tax was expected to add $1 million to the City’s general fund in 2023-24, and cost the average family an extra $3.56 a month, the average downtown Camas business an additional $22.25 a month and the average industrial user an additional $1,909 a month.

A new 6% utility tax — something other Clark County cities have implemented to make up for the 1% property tax levy increase cap — would likely be enough to cover the City’s revenue shortfall in 2025-26 and avoid cuts to existing services.

Camas City Council members are expected to discuss the mayor’s proposed budget again during their Nov. 4 workshop. City of Camas leaders will host an open house to discuss revenue diversification and potential program cuts on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at Lacamas Lake Lodge in Camas.