Crooked River Ranch deputies levy thumped; Madras pool levy approved

(Update: Results updated; reaction from CRR levy opponent)

The results of Central Oregon’s only two election issues Tuesday night were not even close, as Crooked River Ranch voters were soundly rejecting a new tax to fund two dedicated deputies and Madras voters were easily passing a renewed five-year pool levy.

The measure to form a new Crooked River Ranch Enhanced Law Enforcement District fell hard, with about 86 percent of the 1,873 votes against (1,729) to just 14 percent in favor (290) in the count late Tuesday night.

Note quite as lopsided was the winning margin for the Madras Aquatic Center District’s five-year local option tax renewal — but it still passed by a better than 2-to-1 ratio, with 68 percent of the votes (1,793 in support to fewer than 32 percent (826 votes) opposed.

See the latest results for these and other special elections around Oregon here: http://results.oregonvotes.gov/Default.aspx

Measure 16-88 would have created a new law enforcement district on the Jefferson County side of CRR, a sprawling rural subdivision. It would have paid to hire two new Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies to patrol the ranch 80 hours a week, at a cost of 95 cents per $1,000 of taxable property value.

“We were obviously the no on the 16-88 side and we are very happy (because) we don’t need those extra deputies out there,” said Crooked River Ranch resident John Stevens. “When you think of the ranch, you are going to be thinking about speeders, impeders, a lot of dog calls, animal calls, cellphone issues, and I am not sure that (deputies) are something we need right now for the extra dollars.”

The Madras Aquatic Center’s first levy was approved by voters four years ago, raising nearly $250,000 for district operations that expanded beyond the pool to programs such as football, basketball and volleyball.