Councilors also decided during their regular meeting Tuesday night, Aug. 8, to overturn a 2015 decision that bans marijuana businesses within the city limits.

Allowing marijuana dispensaries could generate an estimated $110,000 per year, according to a projection from interim city manager Jon France that’s based on two dispensaries operating. But the city wouldn’t receive the revenue until the 2025-26 fiscal year.

Councilors didn’t make any decisions about a public safety fee on Tuesday. They agreed, by a 6-1 vote, to have a public meeting to hear from residents about the proposed fee. The time and place haven’t been set.

“I know these are tough decisions but we cannot make them without citizen input,” Mayor Beverly Calder said. “We’re going to have to talk to people about it because we do need revenue. I think we need to have a town hall. In order for this to happen we need to have the support of the community. This can’t be a decision made by seven.”

France presented councilors with two options. Both call for a $50 per month fee for commercial water/sewer customers. The monthly fee for residential customers could be either $10 or $15.

The $15 residential fee, along with the $50 commercial charge, would raise about $1 million per year, while the $10 fee would generate about $807,000.

France also gave councilors projected revenue if the residential fee had a 50% discount for low-income households, which he estimated at about 20% of total households. With that discount, the $15 fee would generate about $952,000 per year, while the $10 fee would raise about $753,000.

“We need to do something because we have nothing in place,” France said. “I want to present things that are doable.”

Councilor Nathan Hodgdon suggested the city schedule a public meeting to gather comments about $15/$50 fee proposal, without a discount for low-income households.

“The conversations need to be about filling the gaps,” Hodgdon said. “We have immediate shortfalls right now that long-term solutions can’t meet.”

Hodgdon noted that the city has charged a public safety fee in the past.

A fee of $3 per month for households and $6 for businesses was in effect from July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2020.

“Quite frankly, this city is dying,” Councilor Ray Duman said.

“We cannot keep up with inflation. Costs are going up. To keep pushing it down the road, we’re just digging a bigger hole.”

“Hard to ask citizens to pay for this, but we are in a knee-deep hole,” Councilor Boston Colton said. “My biggest worry is that we will continue to come back to the issue of putting bandaids over a larger issue.”

France, who started work as interim manager in early July after city manager Jon Cannon resigned, is projecting that the city needs $1.74 million in new revenue.

France initially projected a deficit of $903,000. That was based on the city maintaining its current staff.

The $1.74 million estimate includes a proposal to hire new firefighters and police officers, as well as boosting the city’s contingency (money available for emergency shortfalls) by $100,000, to almost $200,000, and hiring an employee, at an estimated cost of $97,000 for salary and benefits, to write grants that could bring in more revenue.

For the fire department, France is proposing an increase of $400,000, which would allow the city to hire a new training captain and a new firefighter, and buy turnouts and other equipment.

His plan for the police department, at an estimated cost of $242,000 for the first year, is to hire two additional officers to ensure around-the-clock patrols are possible without excessive overtime. The plan also calls for new uniforms and additional training.

Councilor Dean Guyer said France’s estimate of $1.74 million may be too small.

“We’re probably kidding ourselves if we can come under 1.74 million dollars,” Guyer said.

Councilor Johnny Waggoner Sr. made a motion to have France draft a resolution that would allow marijuana sales within the city limits.

The motion passed 5-2, with Duman and Guyer opposed. Councilors will discuss the issue again at their Aug. 22 meeting.

“That’s not a quick fix but it is revenue,” France said.

During the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting, councilors received a letter from Roger LeMaster of Baker City, who urged councilors to think about potential drug-related crime and other problems that marijuana sales could cause.

Other possible revenue sources

Councilors have previously discussed asking voters to approve a local tax on gasoline. France estimated that a tax of 5 cents per gallon would generate $400,000 to $500,000 annually. A tax of 7 cents would produce $615,000 to $700,000, and a 10-cent tax would generate $925,000 to $1 million.

The city would use gas tax revenue for street maintenance, not for general fund departments such as police and fire.

To balance the budget for the current fiscal year, the city transferred $495,000 from the street maintenance fund to the general fund.

France told councilors that negotiating an increase in franchise fees with OTEC, Cascade Natural Gas and other utilities, from the current 5% to 7.5%, would generate an estimated $488,000 per year.

The city can’t unilaterally increase franchise fees, which utilities pay to the city for the privilege of using public rights-of-way for their services.

Imposing a $500 annual license fee and occupancy charges for the city’s estimated 80 short-term rental houses could generate about $156,000 per year, France said.

A 1.5% tax on motel rooms and other lodging establishments, to be paid by guests, could yield about $212,000 for the first year, based on collections from the current lodging tax, which is used for tourism marketing and economic development.

Fire department budget

During the budget discussion, councilors rehashed the 2022 decision to have the fire department stop operating ambulances. Cannon told councilors in March 2022 that he believed the city couldn’t afford to continue the ambulance service due to the cost.

Baker County commissioners, who under Oregon law are responsible for choosing ambulance providers, hired Metro West, a private company, to replace the city fire department.

Calder noted that ending ambulance service was supposed to improve the city’s financial situation.

Yet although the city was bringing in about $1 million annually from ambulance bills, the fire department budget has dropped by about $830,000 compared with 2021-22, the last full fiscal year in which the department operated ambulances.

“Now we’re asking them to give the fire department more money, which does not operate an ambulance service anymore,” Calder said. “We can’t just say we need more money.”

Guyer pointed out that the city spent more to operate ambulances than it brought in from billing.

“The city was never required to provide ambulance service to the community, that’s a county obligation,” he said.

Waggoner said he’s “tired of talking about it. … I’m tired of hearing about it,” referring to the ambulance issue.

“The county failed, not the city,” he said. “They drug their feet.”

The county solicited proposals from ambulance providers, including the city fire department, in the spring of 2022.

The city council, after voting 7-0 on May 10, 2022, to submit a proposal, reversed that decision, voting 4-2 on May 24, 2022, not to submit a proposal. Waggoner and Guyer were two of the councilors who voted for the motion to not submit a proposal.

Fire Department Five-Year Plan

Todd Jaynes, the city’s new fire chief, presented a five-year plan for the department.

“I want to rebuild some community relations,” Jaynes told councilors.

His goals include hiring a training captain, two lieutenants and two firefighters, as well as up to 10 part-time employees.

France told councilors earlier this month that the city needs boost the fire department’s workforce to comply with International Safety Organization (ISO) standards.

If the city can’t meet the ISO requirements, homeowners insurance for city residents could increase by 50% to 100%, France said.

“I am absolutely excited about this plan but we do need the revenue,” France said Tuesday.

Jaynes also wants to increase the department’s training.

“Training is a big part of our department moving forward to be successful,” he said. “We don’t want people that aren’t trained going into dangerous situations.”

Jaynes also wants to start a fire cadet program with Baker High School, with a goal of having some of the participants work as part-time firefighters after they graduate.

Other Business

Richard Haines, board chairman for New Hope for Eastern Oregon, gave a presentation on the Trap Neuter and Release (TNR) program.

“Someone has to take the responsibility of taking care of these animals,” Haines said.

Haines said the TNR program is humane and even helpful for warding off non-fixed cats from moving into town and increasing the population of feral felines.