Ahead of a legislative session where she’ll be “laser-focused” on housing, Gov. Tina Kotek praised Salem’s efforts to address homelessness during a Monday speech to the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce.
Kotek was the featured speaker at the business group’s lunch on Monday, Jan. 8, where she also addressed the city’s budget issues, what’s ahead for Measure 110 and goals for education funding reform.
“I think many of us remember where things were in Salem about five or six years ago, with so many tents on the sidewalks and what it was doing to downtown Salem. I now talk about Salem in other parts of the state, as a community that has really embraced that challenge and has figured out how to move forward in creating a continuum of services for people who are experiencing homelessness,” she said.
Kotek spoke about her priorities for the 2024 legislative session, which starts on Feb. 5, then answered questions from chamber president Alan Rasmussen and the audience. The event was part of the chamber’s Forum Speaker Series.
Most seats at the Salem Convention Center downtown were filled, with Kotek’s presence bringing a larger crowd than usual that included regional elected officials and business leaders. Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson, Salem City Councilor Julie Hoy, Cherriots Board President Maria Hinojos Pressey were among those in attendance.
She drew applause from the crowd after proclaiming, at the start of her speech, that she lives in Salem.
Kotek and her wife Aimee Wilson sold their Portland home last year and moved to Salem after she was sworn in. Kotek said they’ve enjoyed the thrift stores, especially Aunt Bee’s House, the Book Bin downtown and getting ready for the Pendleton Roundup at Double ‘H’ Western Wear.
Housing and money to Salem
In her speech, Kotek highlighted her recent tour of each county in Oregon, which wrapped up in Eugene on Dec. 15.
“The number one issue that I heard about was housing. And I am going to be laser-focused, as we go into the legislative session, focused on housing production,” she said. She’s seeking $500 million from the Legislature for housing production, with a goal of doubling the number of homes built in Oregon to 36,000 a year.
She thanked Salem for its efforts to address homelessness, including Project Turnkey, which turns motels into shelters with accompanying services, which she said Salem did better than anywhere else in the state. She also applauded the Navigation Center and micro shelter villages.
Many of Salem’s homeless shelters are at risk of losing city funding in the next year as the city faces a budget deficit. City Manager Keith Stahley plans to prioritize emergency services like police and fire and make cuts in other areas if Salem can’t secure new revenue to address its deficit.
In her speech, Kotek said that the city plays an “invaluable role” as the home of theCapitol and state agency buildings, properties which are tax-exempt because they’re owned by the state. She said she wants to support Salem, and is expecting legislative conversations about a regular state payment to city coffers in lieu of property taxes.
Rep. Tom Andersen, a Salem Democrat and former city councilor, plans to introduce a bill to seek repayment for the roughly $7.5 million in taxes the city does not get from state properties. Kotek previously said she’d sign such a measure if it reached her desk.
Rasmussen followed up during the Q&A, asking if the state had a responsibility to Salem.
“I think the state should have some role to help support essential services in Salem, and I have said that to Mayor (Chris) Hoy directly,” she said. “I think the question is: how do you actually calculate it?”
She said answering that question will involve looking at what other state capitals do, and that she doesn’t believe the state should pick up the entire cost of property taxes because there is an economic benefit to the city for having state offices and employees in Salem.
Measure 110
Rasmussen also asked about changes to Measure 110, which generally decriminalized possession of illicit drugs in small amounts. He said the chamber would like to see policies that end the use of drugs in public, address behavioral health and “include recriminalization of drugs.”
Kotek pointed to the findings of the Portland Central City Task force, and said that laws barring public use of drugs not being enforced was an unintended consequence of decriminalization that she expects the legislature to deal with. She also said law enforcement should have a better ability to target dealers.
She said they’re working on hiring a new director to oversee Measure 110, and that money going to communities has a bigger impact for helping people who are addicted to drugs. Rasmussen asked again about decriminalization.
“I think we need to see what the legislature can come forward there. I think we all agree that what we had before wasn’t working,” she said.
She said if there is criminalization, she wants to see more support for specialty courts, recovery programs in jails and community providers. She said the timing was off, because they didn’t have programs in place to help the measure succeed when they decriminalized the drugs.
Education
Rasmussen asked about the benefits of the Corporate Activity Tax, which, starting in 2020, directed more money to school districts and early learning programs by levying a new business tax. Rasmussen said it hits small businesses hard.
“I would like to better understand how those dollars are actually being utilized in our school districts,” Kotek said. “I’m not criticizing anyone, but we instituted the Student Success Act with a new tax, and then the pandemic hit, three years of very difficult times for our school districts, not completely clear how the student success dollars are having the impact they should have.”
She brought up the Portland teacher’s strike, and said that the state needs to modernize how it funds schools. She said that in the 2025 session, she expects the results of a study on school district funding formulas to better explore the issue.
Rasmussen asked if they would consider raising the threshold of the tax, which applies to businesses who have at least $1 million in activity, up to $2.5 million or higher to lessen the burden on small businesses.
Kotek said that the tax didn’t anticipate inflation, and she thinks the legislature should look at thresholds, impacts and do an assessment of the unanticipated impacts.
Correction: Rep. Tom Andersen‘s name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story. Salem Reporter regrets the error.
Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.
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Abbey McDonald joined the Salem Reporter in 2022. She previously worked as the business reporter at The Astorian, where she covered labor issues, health care and social services. A University of Oregon grad, she has also reported for the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week.
