Taxes

Josephine County Criminal Justice

Support the Josephine County Criminal Justice programs.

It is one of my main goals and I will work diligently to solve the long term funding challenge for law enforcement in Josephine county without asking for more taxes. I believe the first duty, primary responsibility and reason for government is public safety!

I shall explore all options available to secure the needed funding of our county sheriff’s department. We have had complete and full funding in the past for our law enforcement programs and we can have in our future.

Federal Lands Within Josephine County

I will work with various State and Federal agencies and encourage them to accept and recognize the mutual responsibility of an active, constructive coordination program that already exists in our laws. This will give a stronger voice over management of  Federal lands within Josephine County. Working with nature, we can restore a healthy forest, greener and cleaner water sheds, manage the forest to reduce catastrophic wildfires, so that our forest supports habitat for wildlife, clean air, clean water, and provide for a stronger economy.

Coordination between the federal government agencies and county government is required by law and we must demand a seat at the planning table. Our county is sixty-nine percent controlled by the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. For our own good and future economic prosperity we must be allowed to be part of the planning process. I will work tirelessly to make this happen!

O&C Receipts vs County Taxes

History of the O & C Lands

The O & C Lands have a history unlike any other lands in the United States. The saga stretches back 150 years and encompasses the time of westward expansion and settlement, complete with railroad barons, a land grant of millions of acres, land fraud on a massive scale, and ultimately the reversal of the land grant. Peace and prosperity within the 18 O & C Counties has been periodically interrupted by economic strife and legal controversies at every level including more than one trip to the United States Supreme Court and multiple acts of Congress to solve problems traceable to the lands being returned to the federal government in 1916 after 40 years of private ownership.

More than fifty years of stability was achieved starting in 1937 with passage of the O & C Act, but that stability unraveled starting in the early 1990s. The courts and Congress have been unable to restore order to management of the O & C Lands over the last 25 years, but the legal issues are back in court and ripe for resolution as the O & C Lands enter the second half of their second century.