A cyclist travels through downtown Talent across from Camelot Theater. Talent voters will decide May 16 whether to create an urban renewal district to help with Almeda Fire recovery.

Talent citizens will decide the fate of a $16.3 million Almeda Fire Recovery and Revitalization Plan in an advisory vote to Talent City Council on formation of a new urban renewal district that covers much of the burn area. If it fails, the council will not consider forming a district, ballot information states.

The plan’s projects need to be done one way or the other, said Talent Mayor Darby Ayers-Flood. Creating a new urban renewal district would be a way to accomplish that without raising taxes for residents, and the council wanted to offer that option to voters, she said.

Sixteen projects are proposed in four categories: $2.3 million for affordable housing; $3.9 million for commercial revitalization; $4 million for city infrastructure; and $4.7 million for increased resilience and decreased risks. All of the projects would be carried out in the 188-acre urban renewal area over a 20-year timeframe ending in 2044.

Some of the top-dollar items in the draft plan include $2.8 million for a walking path along Wagner Creek and fuel removal along Bear Creek; $2 million for sidewalks, curbs and gutters, paved alleys and other infrastructure to support high-density housing; a $1.13 million upgrade of the Rapp Road railroad crossing; $1.25 million to aid new commercial construction; and $874,000 for improved water flow to fire hydrants.

Citizens and organizations have been critical of the proposal, especially the impact that its tax-financing mechanism would have on jurisdictions that receive revenue from the urban renewal area. Over the life of the project, Jackson County Fire District 5 would forego an estimated $4.22 million in revenue, while the city of Talent would not receive an estimated $4.26 million.

Impacts on the fire district’s ability to respond to emergencies, and how the plan would affect the Talent Police Department have most often been citied as concerns about public safety.

Don’t Axe Our Public Services, a political action committee formed by Local 2596 of the International Fire Fighters Association, which represents District 5 fire personnel, has amassed $20,000 in funding for a campaign against the measure.

“The biggest impact of the TURA amount is an impact on our ability to maintain and update equipment and purchase new apparatus, as well as retaining our staffing levels,” said Brady Graham, president of the union.

Graham said the loss of funding to District 5 could go as high as $6 million over the 20 years. That’s because the district’s value may increase at a higher rate than predicted in the urban renewal plan calculations as larger homes and structures are built in greater densities.

“The reason we jumped on this is we are trying to get the word out there. After the Almeda Fire, the district experienced a $1.6 million loss,” said Graham. That loss, from a property tax revenue decline, was made up by the state.

The fire district has received other post-fire aid that has helped build resources and personnel, but some of those funds aren’t expected to continue, and the district will need all its anticipated revenue, said Graham.

The campaign has included a dozen large signs, close to 300 yard signs, creation of a website and social media pages. A mailer has also been prepared. In addition, firefighters have already visited over 600 homes in Talent to explain the vote.

Money for the PAC came from the union and community members, said Graham. Professional consultants and firms have been hired to ensure the PAC meets all legal requirements.

In the Voters’ Pamphlet, there are two arguments by individuals in favor of the proposal. All 10 arguments against in the pamphlet were submitted by Don’t Axe Our Public Services.

Urban renewal districts do not increase tax rates. But they take all the increase in tax revenues derived from increased property value and send it to the urban renewal agencies for the projects. A total of 11 other taxing districts would forgo those increases for the life of the project.

Jackson County would forego $2.65 million under the plan, while the Jackson County Library District would see a $686,000 impact, and Rogue Valley Transportation District would forego $234,000. Phoenix-Talent School District has the largest projected amount at $5.6 million. However, the school district is funded under state equalization formulas, so its budget would not be impacted.

An initial urban renewal proposal put forward last year would have raised $75 million over 30 years. That would have resulted in Fire District 5 and the city of Talent each foregoing nearly $17 million in tax revenue. After receiving more than 500 comments in opposition to the plan, the City Council voted in August 2022 to create a new plan and to offer citizens a chance to vote on the proposal.

“The city management put it best. We will get this work done. It is just a matter of how and when,” said Ayers-Flood. “This is a tool that will allow us to do it sooner rather than later, when we might pursue taxes.”

Citizens are most concerned about fire management and making the city safe, Ayers-Flood said, but the impact residential rebuilding is having on Talent’s small town infrastructure is also concerning. Rebuilds have generally been larger and done at greater density than existed before the fire.

“Our commercial bounce-back is much slower,” said Ayers-Flood, who is also chair of the Talent Urban Renewal Agency Board of Directors. The urban renewal aid is needed to maintain the town’s own commercial identity and to see that opportunities for improvement along Highway 99 occur, she said.