Readers respond: Modeling restraint for Clackamas County
Published: Feb. 27, 2026, 6:00 a.m.
By Letters to the editor | The Oregonian
In May, Clackamas County voters will be asked to consider a replacement for the expiring public safety levy. County officials say they need to raise the levy rate to maintain current staffing levels at the Sheriff’s Office — to simply hold the line.
The proposed increase is about $60 a year for the average homeowner, but this is not really about $60. I question why we must ask voters for more just to maintain basic public safety.
County leadership points to rising costs, chronic understaffing and reliance on what they call vacancy savings, which means positions that were left unfilled as fewer deputies covered more ground.
Yet there are other reasons. In 2022, the county approved moving forward with a $313 million courthouse through a 30-year public-private partnership, publicly committing to absorb the long-term obligation internally rather than raise taxes. When a county locks itself into decades-long inflation-pegged payments, future flexibility shrinks.
That reduced flexibility eventually shows up as hiring delays, stretched departments and pressure that comes back to voters in tax increases.
At the same time, commissioner pay has continued to rise under the county’s compensation plan, pushing salaries from roughly $110,000 in 2019 to about $134,000 today.
This is not anger or accusation, just contrast.
If elected to the county commission, I will voluntarily cap my take-home pay at $85,000 and return the remainder to Clackamas County each year. We fix this problem by modeling restraint and by refusing to ask more from families than we are willing to shoulder ourselves.
R.W. Smith, Milwaukie
Smith is a candidate for Clackamas County Commissioner Seat 4
