HR County Continues To Refine Public Safety Costs

Hood River County Commissioners have asked administrator Jeff Hecksel and Sheriff Matt English to continue to work on financial numbers for a potential public safety tax measure to send to voters in 2020.  Commissioners held a worksession on the subject this week.  The County is seeking to be able to address four public safety areas:  patrol, investigations, emergency management, and prosecutions, identified in a recent Internet survey as most important.  But Hecksel says they are trying to do that within a tax rate of 67 to 89 cents per thousand dollars of assessed property value, and that has been difficult.  The Commission holds another worksession on Tuesday at 3 p.m. at the County Administration Building.