CANYON CITY — The idea to float a tax levy this year to generate future funding for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office was nixed at the Aug. 2 county court meeting.

The Grant County Court, after approving plans in June for a tax levy to be placed on a special election ballot in November, voted unanimously last week to not move the ballot initiative forward.

The decision came after a meeting was held the night before at the Grant County Economic Development Office in John Day between the mayors of the cities in Grant County (except Seneca), Sheriff Todd McKinley and County Commissioner Jim Hamsher, who arranged the meeting.

McKinley, who spoke during the court meeting, said he personally was not excited for any new taxes and the mayors said the levy would not be popular with their citizenry.

“The small cities, their funds are strapped,” McKinley said. “They just don’t have the money to contribute virtually anything. They haven’t for decades.”

The sheriff also said that if the levy were to pass, Prairie City would not continue its $100,000-a-year contract for dedicated law enforcement coverage.

“They would rescind their contract,” McKinley said. “They would pull out of their contract immediately that they have with the county because why would they pay the additional (funds),” McKinley said.

McKinley noted that the biggest share of dispatch service call volume in Grant County comes from John Day, with 1,208 calls out of a total 2,670 calls this year as of July 31. John Day accounted for 1,934 out of a total 4,673 calls in the county last year, or about 41%.

“If this measure passed, you’re talking a couple of major ranches paying big money in tax increases to pay for police services in the city of John Day, and so there’s that lump that would be pretty hard to swallow,” McKinley said.

Hamsher said he was optimistic that the court could find ways to fund McKinley’s department without any new taxes. He cited the possibility of utilizing about $190,000 in annual interest revenue from $4 million placed in an unappropriated reserve fund this year, in addition to the hope of a $250,000 windfall from federal payments in lieu of taxes going into the county general fund if the public approves a special road district on a ballot measure in November.

“That’s almost $190,000 this year that fund will make,” Hamsher said. “Along with the additional quarter-million from the road services district money, that’s an additional $400,000.”

Commissioner John Rowell, along with citizen members of the county budget committee who had helped plan this fiscal year’s budget, had championed the idea of putting the levy to the voters in November in order to help decision-makers better plan for the 2025 fiscal year as short-term federal funds run out.

After listening to the discussion and community feedback Aug. 2, Rowell said, “It’s kind of futile from what I can see to put it out there,” though he added the court was going to have to work hard to find budgetary solutions.

“I’ll vote no,” Rowell said after Hamsher and Myers entered their “no” votes. “We’re all going to work real hard.”

Citizen budget committee members Amy Kreger and Kathy Smith, who had urged the court to put a levy on the ballot, expressed disappointment in the decision.

“I hope they have a plan for funding law enforcement down the road, and I’m disappointed that as a voter I’m not getting a say-so in it because I think there’s been enough discussion on it,” Kreger said. “It should be up to the voters.”

Smith agreed.

“I’m just disappointed that there’s no forward thinking,” she said.

Charlene Morris, the third citizen member of the county budget committee, had earlier voiced support for putting the levy out to the voters to decide, but said her thinking had changed after speaking to people throughout the county in the past month.

“Just talking amongst the community — and I don’t just communicate within the John Day Valley area, my contacts to friends extend to Dayville, Monument and Long Creek — in my opinion, it was not favorable,” Morris said. “I would say there were definitely more nos to a levy than there were yesses. I would vote ‘no’ if the levy were out today based on what I know today.”

After the vote to scrap the levy, Rowell said he was interested in the idea of approaching the Oregon State Police about the possibility of bolstering law enforcement in the county. McKinley said the idea was discussed at the mayors’ meeting the night before.

“I know that isn’t technically (the state’s) responsibility,” McKinley said. “If they had a detective in the area, that could technically take a lot of the investigatory pressure off our office.”

McKinley said the county could move forward with a joint request sent to the local OSP office from the sheriff’s office and the court.

OSP officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The county court also unanimously decided to not move forward with a motion to dissolve the Grant County Justice Court as a way to save money after a number of officials, including Justice of the Peace Kathy Stinnett, John Day Mayor Heather Rookstool, McKinley and Grant County District Attorney Jim Carpenter, spoke on behalf of keeping the court. Rowell had raised the idea of dissolving the justice court as a cost-saving measure, while Hamsher and Myers had spoken in favor of keeping the court.

“The justice court has value and should be retained,” Carpenter wrote in a letter to the county court. “This is an informal place where local citizens can resolve minor issues including traffic tickets, tenant/landlord disputes and small claims. While the state circuit court may be willing and even advocate for taking on these responsibilities, with the promise of saving the county money, it will come at a significant cost to your county citizens. That cost will be reflected in the bureaucratic red tape, lack of local accountability, and higher fees charged by the state.”

Canyon City Mayor Steve Fischer, who was present at the meeting, said he hoped that the mayors’ meeting could become a quarterly occurrence throughout the year, with a representative of the county court in attendance, in order to exchange ideas. Hamsher said it was something that had been done in the past and would continue in the future.

“You are realizing that, hey, we’re all in this boat together,” Fischer said. “I think we can resolve some of these issues and some law enforcement ideas that might work also just between the cities.”