A Few Minutes with the Mayor – March 2016

Downton Abbey has ended. We knew it must. One of the most watched series in television history, it carved out a special niche in the hearts of its audience… one that will be difficult to ever duplicate. Even its cast may never again see a production as beloved worldwide as this one. Along those same lines, if you were an actor fortunate enough to be in “Gone With The Wind,” whatever more important could you do for the rest of your career?

There are many reasons for the success of Downton Abbey… great casting, solid direction, and incredible sets. But all great films possess one essential element… a well-written and solid story. And, if it’s historically accurate, so much the better. Here, the story is of a family trying to hold on to not only its traditions in the face of rapidly-changing times, but to its very property which provides a living for so many. Seeing other great estates failing, the family begins to change its business model, while at the same time, running on a tighter and ever-more reduced budget. Even so, expenses continue to outpace income, forcing more cuts in staffing levels. As “Carson,” the butler says to Thomas the under butler, “These days, who ever has an under butler?” In short, Thomas is to be let-go after more than a decade of service.

Downton Abbey ends on this note… a realization that even this great estate’s days may be ending. Sadly, after World War II, most of those castle-estates did vanish.

Watching the sixth and final season, I realized there was a strong parallel between this show and the current fortunes of our own beloved City. Most of us moved here because of its size. Like the Crawleys in their castle, we love our quality of life and want to maintain it. Yet, just like the Crawleys, our city resources become less sufficient year by year to maintain that quality of life. In each case, ever-increasing expenses, due in-part to rising labor and material costs, as well as less than adequate income, make it more and more difficult to properly staff operations. In the Crawley’s case, it’s the vast army of people the estate needs in order to function. In Jacksonville’s case, it’s the people who constitute city government, paid for by a frozen level of income, that can never be increased. Measure 50 established a permanent tax rate limit for all Oregon taxing jurisdictions. That limit was based on 1997 property tax numbers. In Jacksonville’s case, the tax we receive is $1.84 per thousand. It has never increased in twenty years and there is nothing the City can do about it. No matter how much your property taxes went up in these past years, Jacksonville continued to receive the same amount—not a wise business operation.

To add insult to injury, our tax rate is one of the lowest in the state. Medford receives $5.29 per thousand… almost three times as much. When the state legislature passed proposition 50, they completely ignored what would happen to smaller cities, and today many of them are worse off than our City is.

In the Jabberwocky land of television, a writer can tackle problems in whatever fashion he or she chooses. In Downton Abbey, the writer broke off the narrative before the Great Depression and left the story with no financial solution. In Jacksonville, the narrative continues while the ebb and flow of life continues with no convenient escape from our financial problems.

Somerset Maugham wrote, “Money is like a sixth sense—and you can’t make use of the other five without it.” And also true—you can’t run a city without it. We’ve done a pretty good job until now. We can match the quality of our police force and our fire department against any other in the region. You have every reason to take pride in both. Each is professional and dedicated… and each has been operating at a lower cost than their counterparts in other cities. Now, it is our task to find a way to move forward, continuing their vital services which contribute so much to the safety and the quality of life in our City.