Cannon Beach drafts competing ballot measure on debt
Published 3:00 pm Monday, September 16, 2024
- The May election in Cannon Beach will have competing ballot measures on debt.
CANNON BEACH — The City Council has moved to counteract a ballot measure in the May election that would require a public vote on large debt projects.
City officials had warned of ambiguities and potential unintended consequences in the ballot measure proposed by residents Robin Risley, Samuel Block and Allen Barber.
City Attorney Ashley Driscoll said if the ballot measure is enacted, it may require the city to submit all potential debts to voters regardless of the amount or type of project.
The City Council approved a competing ballot measure on Sept. 10. Both measures will go before voters in May.
“The competing measure, as drafted, fully counteracts the ambiguities present in the initiative measure, and will allow the city to move forward on municipal projects that don’t raise property taxes, such as funding improvements to the city’s water system, without first holding a vote,” she said.
Under the competing ballot measure, the city would only require a public vote for general obligation bonds and would be permitted to issue other types of debt financing without going before voters.
Risley is a real estate broker who lost her reelection campaign to the City Council in 2022, Block is a freelance photographer and Barber is an administrative assistant at the Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce. They pushed for the ballot measure to place restrictions on city debt after divisions in the community over the City Council’s approval of $33.6 million in bond financing for the redevelopment of the former elementary school and the construction of a new City Hall and police station.
The city and a motel operator have settled a legal challenge over whether the debt financing required a public vote. The city has agreed to hold an advisory vote in the November election on $7.8 million in financing for the redevelopment of the former elementary school, while moving forward with financing for the City Hall and police station.
While advisory votes are nonbinding, the city will honor the election results as part of the settlement.
