Keizer council directs interim police-fee changes, orders deeper review after hours of debate

Keizer — The Keizer City Council spent the majority of its May 4 meeting debating a proposed police services fee and gave staff mixed but specific direction intended to preserve public safety staffing while the council refines a permanent method to allocate costs.

City Manager Brown told the council the city has exhausted one-time reserves and that the police-fee task force recommended a fee based on Equivalent Service Units (ESUs). Brown said the analysis showed that without a revenue change the city would have to consider a reduction in force “of at least 10” positions, a budget gap that staff said could equate to roughly a 20% cut within the police department if reductions were concentrated there.

The staff report included several options: (a) retain a flat per-door rate for residents, (b) switch to an ESU-based model that multiplies a base fee by measured impervious surface (the ESU), or (c) a tiered model that reduces the burden on very small businesses. Staff noted models…