After November failure, Chemeketa leaders plan to seek voter approval for construction package

Chemeketa Community College will likely ask voters in May to approve a $140 million college construction package intended to modernize buildings after an initial effort failed in November.

President Jessica Howard said the college’s Board of Education will vote at their Feb. 19 meeting on putting the bond measure on the May ballot.

The construction package would include renovations at every college facility in Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties, with the majority dedicated to the main campus in Salem. It includes a new science lab in Woodburn, space for career programs, upgrades to aging buildings and security improvements across six campuses.

It would be paid for by loans repaid through property taxes, but wouldn’t raise tax rates because it replaces older bonds that are expiring. 

Howard said that’s a key point that the college’s polling found voters didn’t grasp when they voted the money down in November. Despite bipartisan support and no organized opposition, about 57% of voters rejected the package.

“We have tremendous support in the community and what did not work last time was the misunderstanding that it would increase the tax rate,” Howard said. “We are intending to be much clearer about that this time.”

If Chemeketa’s measure passes, an average homeowner in Salem would continue paying about $61 per year for the college’s bonds.

If the college’s board moves ahead, that will give Salem voters two property tax measures to decide in May. 

City councilors on Monday indicated they’ll seek voter approval for a property tax levy, raising taxes to avoid deep cuts to the city’s library, parks maintenance, Center 50+ and more. Councilors are scheduled to formally vote to put the measure on the ballot at their Feb. 24 meeting.

Proponents of the Salem measure are worried that Chemeketa also seeking money could doom both efforts in an economic climate when few households have extra money to spare. West Salem voters will also decide on a Polk County tax levy to support fairgrounds operations in May.

Jim Scheppke, leader of the “Fund Our Libraries” advocacy group supporting the Salem tax levy spoke before the council Monday, urging them to work with Chemeketa leaders to delay the college’s ask. In a letter to Iton Udosenata, a Chemeketa board member, he described Chemeketa’s funding needs as less urgent since city services will face deep cuts if the city measure fails.

“There’s often a segment of voters who have a very negative reaction to seeing more than one local government with their hand out, and they say no to all of them,” Scheppke said to the council.

Howard said she wants to see both measures pass, but said the college’s leaders want to seek funding again now while voters’ memories are still fresh from the last campaign. She said given Chemeketa’s large service area, it’s nearly impossible for the college to ask voters for money without conflicting with another local government entity.

“We can’t develop our plans based on that but we’re very supportive of what the city’s trying to do and we don’t want people to confuse the two ballot measures. They’re different but they both support local life,” she said. “Salem’s the area of our district we were successful with in the last bond so we feel we have a lot of support to build on.”

John Horvick, senior vice president at DHM Research, an Oregon political polling firm, said there’s little data or analysis to say whether asking voters to approve multiple tax measures makes them more likely to fail.

“It’s logical to assume if you ask voters for a lot of tax measures there’s going to be some limit to what they’re going to say yes to and that makes sense to me but I can’t point you to a set of data,” he said. “What we do have probably suggests that the effect is pretty minimal.”

The firm has conducted polls on behalf of the city of Salem, and Horvick declined to speak specifically about the city measure.

Oregon voters rejected local funding measures at an unusually high rate in November, Horvick said, but it’s challenging to pinpoint a single cause. Measures did better in 2022 and 2023, when inflation rates were higher and anxiety about the economy was high.

He said it’s not possible to predict how May elections will shake out, and that much will depend on the specifics of what local governments ask voters to pay for.

Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.

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