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Talent council hears strong public concern about proposed public safety surcharge
Summary
At a special meeting, residents and business owners urged the council to delay or redesign a proposed public safety surcharge based on ITE trip-generation data, citing large commercial increases, equity concerns and a desire to explore a voter levy or regional service options.
The Talent City Council opened a special meeting to take public testimony on a proposed public safety surcharge that would be calculated using Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) trip‑generation figures.
Staff member Alex told councilors the city audited the transportation fee and prepared a proposed public safety surcharge using the ITE trip-generation manual; staff plan to post the spreadsheet and mail nonresidential customers. "We've done an audit of the, of the both the transportation fee and what the public safety surcharge fee would be based on the latest Institute for Traffic Engineers trip generation numbers," Alex said.
Multiple business owners and community organizers said the proposed method produces large, confusing increases for small and nonprofit enterprises. Anna Zegstran, owner of Sweet Beach Station, said the proposal would raise her business's monthly charge "from about $11.32 a month to over $90 a month," and asked that the city publish underlying data, consider a ballot measure, or phase increases in.
Community organizer Torren McKnight called attention to equity and public‑safety tradeoffs, saying the council was considering raising the residential fee "from $5.66 to $10.50 per household" and urged alternatives to additional policing funding, such as increased social services and removing the school resource officer.
Staff gave examples of estimated charges to illustrate the methodology — for instance, Alex said a proposed public safety surcharge for Sweet Beach Station was about $93.77 per month and that the library's surcharge would be roughly $290 per month — but several commentators questioned whether ITE averages represent Talent's local patterns.
Councilors and staff concluded the discussion by asking staff to return on August 5 with additional analyses, options for a levy, details about appeal procedures for business categorizations and clearer published data so residents can evaluate the proposal.
