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I suspect that "rising benefit costs for current and former employees" has something to do with it. If that is the case, the problems will never go away because those costs will continue to head up and up. So they'll keep coming back to us to dole out more for the same or lesser services and the additional money will go to benefits.
Maybe it's just my perception, but it sure seems like every public agency in this state has pretty much been in perpetual "crisis" since I was a boy. I can't ratchet up my taxes every two years because everything is constantly in "crisis."
This time it is schools and the library. Next time, it will be parks, and probably schools again. Then its the firefighters turn on the merry-go-round. Let's make some more structural fixes instead of paying more money just to prolong the same problems.
Now that I've owned a home for ten years, I definitely understand where the sentiment behind Measure 5 came from.
On a serious note, elect better fucking public servants. Don't vote for any tax increase until these people feel the pressure and get organized to properly manage the money that does come in. I could give a fuck about their pensions. Hold the fuckers accountable or just kiss your money goodbye. If you can afford to be that stupid in Portland, more power to ya.
In a perfect world (or a perfect city at any rate), public services would be cooperative rather than competitive when it comes to funding. In the real world, a better solution than creating a district is for the county to put a levy on the ballot that would restore library hours to their previous levels, but still keep the library an agency of Multnomah County. Let's not forget that library services in Portland improved when the old Library Association of Portland became a part of the county.
I would gladly do a straight swap of city budget for library budget. The City of Portland wastes money like no other entity in the state. More than a quarter of taxes to the city goes to funding urban renewal projects. I would gladly give some of that money to the library.
Unfortunately, we're never given those choices. The only choice they give us is to increase and increase the overall property tax burden.
If you are worried about the City budget, you need to start closer to home with a critique of the city budget itself. It spends SOOO much money on nonsense unrelated to core city services.