vote 2023

Michelle Atkinson for Medford School Board

Vote Michelle Atkinson for Medford School Board!

She has experience. Served on the Medford School District budget committee as chair, she brings leadership as well as understanding of budget needs for our schools.

She is a go-getter. Michelle is the co-founder of Libraries for All, a campaign that helped reopen libraries in Jackson County. Michelle understands the needs of our children. She works to look at students’ individual needs and development levels to ensure each child has access to the resources they need to succeed.

I have known Michelle Atkinson for many years and know she will be an earnest, hard-working board member that does great work for our children and community.

Vote Michelle.

Lindsay Berryman / Medford

Yes on Ashland’s food and beverage tax

I truly can’t believe objections to Measure 15-214. Having well-maintained parks is vital for every aspect of life in Ashland. Parks are the crown jewel of our city!

At present, park maintenance in Ashland is a critical need. Measure 15-214 will dedicate one-third of the food and beverage tax to park operating expenses, which saves property tax dollars for other city requirements.

If this measure fails, food and beverage funds would be limited to capital improvement projects like land acquisition and park development rather than park operations and maintenance.

Why would the Parks Department acquire more land or build more parks if they don’t have funds to maintain them?

Please vote yes for Measure 15-214.

Karen Smith / Ashland

No on Ashland’s food and beverage tax

I am opposed to Ballot Measure 15-214 for three reasons:

• The only serious review of the Ashland Parks & Recreation Department budget occurs when APRD makes its annual request for property tax distribution. From what I have seen, the Parks Commission offers little pushback to Director Black’s requests; the City Council members face contested elections so are more accountable.

• Article 19, Section 3 of the City Charter states that the City must allocate APRD up to 4.5 mills on the dollar for park purposes. The ballot measure doesn’t amend the Charter to remove this entitlement. There is no requirement for publicly accessible budgets in the ballot measure.

• Permanently devoting a funding stream to any one area reduces Council flexibility to shift money around in times of need.

This is not about defunding parks. This is about maintaining oversight of the expenditure of our funds.

Vote NO!

Laura Duncan / Ashland