FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

The Carlton Police Department occupies the west two rooms at City Hall, 191 E. Main Street.

If the bond passes, the project would construct new housing for the Carlton Police Department to replace the existing facility. The project would include the demolition of the existing commercial building located on site where the new structure would be built.

If the bond passes, construction of the new police facility would include secure detainee processing facilities, a secure interview room for victims and the public, secure restrooms separate from open public restrooms, secure armory and evidence storage, meeting room, office space, storage, a secure vehicle bay for one police vehicle, a secure locker room for officers and mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems.

If passed, the General Obligation Bond would provide up to $2.3 million to fund the construction of a new police facility for the Carlton Police Department. If passed, the bond would pay for a new building that would meet the Police Department’s facility needs and provide expansion space, including:

A dedicated area for processing and interviewing suspects or detainees.
A private room to interview victims.
A secure and private meeting room for staff and law enforcement personnel from other agencies.
A secure armory to store department weapons.
A secure evidence storage area.
A secure bathroom and shower for officers. Officers currently use a bathroom in City Hall or an outbuilding. Neither have a bio-hazard decontamination area and are not ADA compliant.
The officer locker is in an outbuilding that has no temperature control, storage space that will not house all the Police Department’s equipment, and a roof that leaks.
The current building lacks office space for staff.
The current building does not meet current building codes regarding withstanding a natural disaster or earthquake.

The current facility was built of cinderblocks in 1974, and does not meet current building codes. The current building does not have:

A dedicated area for processing and interviewing suspects or detainees.
A private room to interview victims.
A secure and private meeting room for staff and others.
A secure armory to store department weapons.
A secure evidence storage area.
A secure bathroom and shower for officers. Officers currently use a bathroom in City Hall or an outbuilding. Neither have a bio-hazard decontamination area and are not ADA compliant.
The officer locker is in an outbuilding that has no temperature control, storage, and a roof that leaks.
The current building lacks office space for staff.
The current building does not meet current building codes regarding withstanding a natural disaster or earthquake.

If the May 2018 bond passes, bonds would mature in 26 years or less from date of issuance. Property owners would see an estimated tax increase of 96 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value in the first year, and an average of 69 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value over the remaining 25-years of the bond.

For property that is assessed at $150,000 the tax assessed would be $12.00 a month the first year or $8.63 a month over the remaining 25-years of the bond.

Use this tool to estimate your cost.

https://www.ci.carlton.or.us/police/webform/estimate-your-cost

Yes, if the bond passes, it would apply to all taxable property within the City of Carlton’s city limits.

Yes, the City Council appointed a citizen advisory committee to work with architects to investigate building options for the police department and general government offices. They considered multiple configurations, and cost estimates for all options were nearly double prior estimates.

The Committee discussed the initiative in detail, focusing of the needs of both City Government and the Police Department. The Committee prioritized the City’s projects and the Police Department was ranked first. The Committee made two recommendations and resolutions to implement these were passed by the City Council:

Refer General Obligation Bond to the ballot for voter consideration, which if passed would be used to build a new Police Department Building, not to exceed $2.3 million.

If the Bond is passed, construct a new City Hall adjacent to the police building with financing not available to the police building project.

The Police Department and all its operations are paid from the General Fund. The financing analysis determined that the maximum General Fund would not be enough to fund a new police facility. The financial analysis estimates the General Fund would contribute approximately $500,000 - $550,000 to a remodel option for the Police Department.

If the bond does not pass the City would not construct a building for the Police Department.

If the bond does not pass:

The financial analysis estimates the General Fund would contribute approximately $500,000 - $550,000 to renovate option for the Police Department.
To comply with code standards, the renovation would include seismic and mechanical construction.
Evidence and records would be housed in spaces that are not secure and lack climate control.
Individual interviews take place in the council chambers open to the public.
Visitors, victims, suspects, and staff would continue to share the same meeting and interview facilities.
The Police Department would not have dedicated area for processing and interviewing individuals.
Visitors, victims, suspects, and staff would continue to share the same toilet facilities.
The City would not have a building for emergency operations that could be used during a natural disaster or earthquake.
The City would continue to maintain the police facility building.
If the bond does not pass, the estimated increase of $0.96 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value the first year and an average of $0.69 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value over the remaining 25-years of the bond would not be assessed.

If the bond does not pass the project would become a City Hall renovation project that would include two parts;

The police department building to house police department operations, and
The general government building to house the front office operations such as utility billing, administration, finance, municipal court, planning, City Council chambers, public lobby, and restrooms.

The General Fund would contribute $40,000 - $50,000 for annual debt payments. Under a renovation option the Police Department and General Government would share the amount equally, i.e. $20,000 - $25,000 for the Police Department building and $20,000 - $25,000 for the General Government building.

Depending on the term of the loan (20 – 40 years) a police department remodel budget is estimated to be between $550,000 - $650,000. Depending on the term of the loan (20 – 40 years) a general government remodel budget is estimated to be between $1,750,000 - $2,000,000.

No, water and sewer monies cannot be used for the police building. Police Department operations are a General Fund activity and can only be funded by the General Fund and not by the Water and Sewer Funds.

The general government portion of the project can use Water and Sewer fund dollars because general government operations perform tasks related to managing the water and sewer utilities.

If the bond passes there would be a couple of years of overlap with the new Bond, the property tax impact from outstanding bonds moves lower after 2021 and decreases again after 2026. The following bonds will no longer be assessed between 2021 and 2026.

Yamhill-Carlton School District Bond, current rate is $0.98 per $1,000 of Assessed Valuation will expire in 2021, and
Chemeketa Community College Bond, current rate is $0.278 per $1,000 of Assessed Valuation will expire in 2026.

If the bond is passed City Hall, three metal storage building, and the commercial building next door would be demolished, and a new combined City Hall and Police Department building would be constructed simultaneously.

The City has been reserving money for several years. These funds have been used to pay for the architect and various design fees to date. Currently, the City has $461,726 in remaining reserves for the future use, if the bond passes. If the bond passes, approximately one-third or $152,370 would be applied to the Police Department building.

If the bond passes, the City, and its Project Architect would complete the design of the police building and City Hall. The City owns the site and much of the project’s pre-development work has been completed. Permitting for the project would be underway at the end 2018, with project bidding during the winter of 2018/19.

If the bond passes, in early 2019, the City would issue an RFP for construction. Building activity would be expected to be underway by early summer of 2019, and the Police Department would move in by the end of 2019.

The new pool house does not contain general office or facilities to house a police department such as space for a secure armory, secure evidence storage, secure interview rooms for individuals, secure processing, or office space.

If the bond passes, this project would not reduce funding available for other possible projects.

The Police Department does not generate any revenue to the City’s General Fund. However, the Police Department does issue various types of citations such as traffic enforcement and Carlton’s municipal court does generate some revenue (fines and forfeitures) from the issued citations. This averages approximately $10,000 - $20,000 per year. The monies are applied to General Fund activities including the Police Department.

In Fiscal Year 2017 the General Fund received $700,047 in property taxes, the single largest revenue source for the General Fund. This equals 65% of total General Fund revenues, $1,075,166.

The Police Department is the largest General Fund activity, with 2017 expenses of $456,628. This accounts for 42.47% of General Fund expenses or approximately 65 percent of annual property tax collections. These funds support existing personnel and program costs. These funds pay for the operation of departments other than the Police Department. The funds are not designated to pay for the construction of a police department facility.