The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

One way or another the City of Sisters is going to finance the construction of a new City Hall.

Included in an estimated $12.9 million in expenditures this next fiscal year is a $2 million debt for the city hall, which the Urban Renewal Fund will carry.

City Manager Eileen Stein has written other scenarios into the budget for this next fiscal year that could be played out in order to cover the cost of the new facility.

According to Stein, the Urban Renewal Agency Budget Committee already anticipates a $2 million debt for the city hall. The city can use those funds because the facility will lie inside the Urban Renewal District. With $100,000 a year in tax increment, the fund will be repaid in 10 years, said Stein.

When the city sells its property at 204 West Adams Ave. it will repay these funds in full.

“Just based on what I know right now, I think we can use the money from Urban Renewal. We’re needing to procure the services of a financial adviser just to make sure,” said Stein.

The city’s Street Fund is still limping along even with a $100,000 infusion from the General Fund. Stein said that by 2008 the Street Fund will be showing a deficit of $5,000 and in two years it will grow to $60,000 if changes aren’t made.

“We’re really going to have to do something about the street fund and they can’t just be contributions from the General Fund over time or we will bankrupt the General Fund,” said Stein.

City officials have considered different options for giving the Street Fund its own ability to generate resources.

“I think Sisters is a good candidate for a local gas tax,” said Stein.

At the pump, motorists could see anywhere from a one-cent charge to a three-cent charge applied to the cost of gassing up.

Increased contributions from building permit fees and the Central Electric Cooperative franchise fee have been helpful in strengthening the General Fund, but current tax revenues are being spent mostly on the services provided by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.

The new City Hall is only the present financial hurdle for the City of Sisters at a time when state and federal funds are dwindling.

On the horizon for the city’s budget are the challenges of expanding the city’s wastewater treatment facility and city road projects.