To the Editor:

Some candidates in this November’s John Day City Council election were councilors when the city’s urban renewal agency was created.

As originally conceived to promote house construction, owners of newly built homes inside the district could have hook-up fees waived and receive a rebate once the new home was on the tax rolls. Revenue from the increase in property taxes from new houses would fund that benefit.

Somewhere along the way, the bobbleheads on the council approved a resolution to the original ordinance providing money up front to a select group of developers so they could start work on new subdivisions. There were no strings attached — the developers could keep the money even if they never built a single new house. It’s hard to imagine that an economically depressed community would approve such a measure, but the former councilors bobbled their heads and said, “Well, we have to do something.”

Recently, the city was forced to borrow $1.8 million to make good on this deal with the developers. Before that, the city’s debt included the fire hall, the utility extension to the airport industrial project, the ill-conceived greenhouse and the match for a brownfield grant to clean up the old timber mill site. That was not insurmountable, but this free money for a select group of developers could be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Last but not least, the notorious $600,000 swimming pool design fee approved by the bobblehead councilors before the pool levy was even sent to the voters (it lost) could have made the city’s debt much, much worse. Fortunately, COVID relief funds paid off that ill-advised expenditure — money that could have gone to assist small businesses and workers hurt by the pandemic.

These reckless councilors, who spent money like drunken sailors led by a mad captain, now seek election so they can continue hunting for that great white whale while sinking the ship.

Richard Hanners

John Day