Philomath council adopts police services fee ordinance after amendment; fee set at $5

The Philomath City Council on July 27 adopted Ordinance 8-95 to create a police services fee and later set the fee amount at $5 by unanimous resolution. The ordinance itself passed on a 5–2 roll-call vote after councilors debated enforcement, alternatives and budget implications.

Councilor Andrade moved a last-minute tweak to Section 3.26.020(a) to link revenues explicitly to maintaining “essential police services” and that amendment was approved unanimously before the ordinance vote. Mayor McMorant and several councilors said the change clarified the council’s intent that revenues be used for core policing functions, not incidental programs. “The revenues generated by this fee are intended to allow the city of Philomath to continue to maintain essential police services that safeguard, facilitate, and encourage the health, safety, and welfare of community members and businesses of the city,” the amended language reads as read aloud by the city recorder.

Public commenters spoke overwhelmingly against the fee being added to utility bills and urged putting the matter to a public vote. Robert Biscoe, a Philomath resident, told the council, “I’m against this fee 100%. I think that it should go out to the voters.” Council discussion acknowledged that alternatives — including a levy or revenue from enforcement-related fines — had been considered; Councilor Salsa and others noted that enforcement revenue is an unreliable budget source. Council members also said the council had spent many hours reviewing options and that the $5 figure represented a compromise from an earlier $14 proposal.

After the ordinance passed, the council took a separate, unanimous vote (Resolution 26-23) to set the fee amount at $5. The resolution fixes the fee at $5 until a future council changes it. The city indicated that the dollar amount is not embedded in the municipal code (the ordinance creates the fee mechanism; the resolution sets the amount) and that any future adjustment would require another council action.

Impact and next steps: Ordinance 8-95 is now adopted and the fee amount has been set by resolution. Councilors asked staff to provide committee materials and prior reports on traffic-enforcement activity so the public can see the analyses discussed during the debate. The council did not set a separate effective date in the recorded remarks; future communications from the city will confirm implementation timing.