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208 19 the Infamous measure 5, ColumBIa gorge Battles, and east County efforts to seCede (1990–2001) Just as resolution A was bringing the county some financial breathing room, a November 1990 statewide ballot measure, Measure 5, significantly changed Oregon’s property tax system, affecting school districts and all local governments —including Multnomah County—that relied on property taxes for a sizeable portion of their operating revenues. Measure 5 restricted most property taxes to 1½ percent of assessed value. expressed another way, this was a levy of 15 mills, or $15 for each $1,000 of real market value or assessed value, whichever was lower. the only exception was for taxes to repay general obligation bonds approved by voters.1 A maximum of .05 (½ of 1) percent could be levied for schools and the remaining 1 percent allocated among all other local government operating funds. Prior to passage of Measure 5, Oregon local governments were allowed to increase property tax bases by 6 percent each year without regard to changes in assessed value. While Measure 5 still allowed this same calculation, depending on the tax rate of all related districts (education or general government), the governmental unit might or might not be able to actually collect all of it. (the automatic 6 percent increase was later reduced by Measure 50—passed in May 1997—to 3 percent plus new construction.2 Unless inflation remained under 3 percent—an unusual phenomenon—local government property tax revenues would continue to shrink relative to the normal rate of inflation.) Starting in 1993, a new cast of county leaders faced the funding difficulties exacerbated by Measure 5. State representative beverly Stein had planned to run for Multnomah County chair when Gladys McCoy finished her second term, but McCoy’s untimely death in April 1993 advanced Stein’s timetable by nearly two years. In a special June 1993 mail-in election, Stein won 44 percent of the vote for county chair against eight opponents, an impressive showing the Infamous measure 5, columBIa gorge Battles . . . 209 but still short of the majority needed to avoid a run-off. In its endorsement of her candidacy, the Oregonian called her a “creative, consensus-building ex-legislator.” Willamette Week said Stein was “that rare visionary who knows how to get things done.”3 In her August 3 face-off against perennial candidate and former state senator vern Cook, Stein garnered 70 percent of the vote, and was duly elected to complete the remaining sixteen months of McCoy’s term. Stein had previously served three terms in the Oregon house of representatives; she had also been a City of Portland council staff member, and a Legal Aid lawyer. two men and two women served with Stein on the board during her first four years—tanya Collier, Gary hansen, Sharron Kelley, and Dan Saltzman. In the first budget Stein put forward as county chair, she proposed transferring thirty-three sheriff’s deputies to the City of Portland. She argued that July 1 annexations affecting 26,000 people would again shrink the county’s unincorporated area, so fewer sheriff’s deputies were needed. In spite of vigorous protests by Sheriff bob Skipper, Stein’s fellow commissioners and the Oregonian editorial board supported her position. “Stein, Skipper near a face-off over turf and money,” said an April 19, 1994, Oregonian headline. “transfer Sheriff’s deputies,” an Oregonian editorial declared. “Unincorporated area is shrinking; so should sheriff’s staff and budget.”4 At the end of negotiations involving the county, City of Portland, and Sheriff Skipper, twenty-three deputies were ultimately transferred to the Portland Police bureau, which needed the additional police officers to patrol newly annexed city turf. the $2 million in county savings was redirected to help keep social services intact, support programs for curtailing juvenile crime, and enhance data systems.5 the one downside to the otherwise positive results of a fully implemented resolution A was the virtual demise of the law enforcement function of the sheriff’s office. At one point in its history, the county had hoped that the culture and traditions of the county sheriff’s office would prevail over those of the Portland Police bureau. In the end, it was the larger and more entrenched Portland Police bureau that won out—another instance of a city-county battle in which the county came out the loser.6 As revenues stalled, it became increasingly difficult for the county to sustain its services. A blue ribbon committee that...

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