A bill to help counties boost public safety efforts received a public hearing in the House Committee on Revenue on April 22.

In its current form, House Bill 2449 increases the rate of the 9-1-1 tax to $1.50 per month of service and per retail transaction and reduces administrative allocations of the tax revenues. For the last 24 years, the tax has remained stagnant at 75 cents, resulting in significant reductions to budgets in other programs and services for Oregon counties and cities as the costs of providing services have skyrocketed.

Jefferson County Administrator Jeff Rasmussen testified on behalf of Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) in support of the measure. In his testimony, Rasmussen called out tax inequity across the nation, noting that in a recent study, Oregon was ranked at the lowest tax rate among all 50 states for the 9-1-1 tax, “if you double it, Oregon will be the 48th least taxed in the nation.”

Several government and public safety organizations also came together to support the measure at the hearing stressing the true need for increasing the tax. In his verbal testimony, Marion County Sheriff Jason Myers discussed the increased cost of providing 9-1-1 services and public safety. Myers shared that in Marion County because the tax has not kept pace with the costs of the service, the result has been a loss equivalent to a deputy position per year for the county. Myers went on to further call out the impact to rural Oregon, “as you go East, one deputy position can be the difference between having 24-hour coverage and not having 24-hour coverage. So, this increase will support the infrastructure of our 9-1-1 system as well as the burden at the local level, and any savings actually equates to more public safety responders. So you have a good 9-1-1 system that takes the calls, and you actually have someone on the other end that can respond.”

To view testimony on the bill, click here.

The bill will remain in the House Committee on Revenue until further action is scheduled.

Contributed by: Megan Chuinard | Public Affairs Associate