Public Safety Fee

On June 2, 2025, the Florence City Council held a public hearing on the proposed Public Safety Fee that had been included in the 2025-27 Biennial Budget and budget process. The Florence City Council and the City’s Budget Committee had previously held discussions related to the need to fill the revenue gap related to Public Safety and outlined in the budget document.

On April 17th during the City Council Work Session, the City Council provided direction to include a Public Safety Fee in the Proposed Budget after hearing a report on the budget forecasts and revenue gap.

On May 12th the Budget Committee Meeting reviewed the Proposed Budget, received information related to the Public Safety Fee, and discussed the Budget and proposed fee in depth.

On May 14th the Budget Committee Meeting further discussed the proposed fee and voted to approve the Proposed Budget, referring it to the City Council for adoption.

All of the materials and the meeting videos for those meetings are available on the City’s website and linked on the Budget Information landing page for review. Members of the public interested in these past meetings are encouraged to review those discussions for further background, including the presentation from the June 2nd City Council meeting.

During the last biennium’s Budget Message, City Manager Reynolds foreshadowed a significant and growing gap between the revenues generated through the General Fund and the rising costs of essential services, especially Public Safety. Despite years of strategic cost-saving measures and temporary relief from federal COVID-related funds, the City’s low property tax rate—one of the lowest in Oregon—no longer provides sufficient funding to sustain core services. Public Safety alone is projected to cost $8.3 million during the biennium, exceeding available property tax revenues by over $1.5 million.

To maintain the level of police and emergency services from the City that residents rely on, and to prevent cuts to other vital services such as parks and code enforcement, the City Council provided staff with policy direction to begin the process of creating a Public Safety Fee. This fee, as incorporated into the budget, is to be phased in gradually starting at $5 per month effective July 2025, with a presumed increase to $15 per month in January 2026, and a presumed increase to $18 per month at the beginning of year two of the biennium in July 2026. With a Public Safety Fee, the City can sustain and maintain existing levels of policing and emergency services. The new fee will create a stable, dedicated revenue source for Public Safety in the General Fund to help close the funding gap, while minimizing the immediate financial impact on residents and businesses.

During the June 2nd meeting, the City Council held a public hearing on Ordinance No. 6, Series 2025, an ordinance creating Florence City Code Title 1, Chapter 18 regarding a Public Safety Fee. This ordinance and proposed City Code incorporated the direction and input from the previous in-depth discussions during the City Council Work Session in April and the two Budget Committee Meetings. The City Council adopted Ordinance No. 6, Series 2025 during the meeting, which established the Public Safety Fee and set the initial rate at $5 per residential unit and $5 per nonresidential unit on developed properties within the incorporated Florence city limits.

All future changes to the fee rate would be made through resolutions adopted by the City Council and rates will be listed on the City’s comprehensive fee schedule, like all other City fees. Billing and collections of the Public Safety Fee will be through the City’s monthly City Services billing and will follow the due dates of those billings. This is how the City processes other City-wide fees for developed properties. Customers will begin seeing the Public Safety Fee on their City Service Bills beginning in August.

City staff will finalize and implement the communications plan related to the Public Safety Fee with the goal of informing customers of the purpose and details of the new fee that will be seen on City Services Bills beginning in August. This is the City’s first new fee since the Street Maintenance Fee in 2012, requiring extra communications. The City Council and staff understand it is difficult to reach every person and business that will be impacted by the new fee through a single communications method, so the City will be working on a variety of communications tools to reach as many people as possible prior to the fee appearing on the August 2025 bills.