Yamhill County residents would have to vote on every new or increased fee proposed by the county commissioners, retroactive to July 1, under an initiative proposed by conservative activist Neal Lockhart for the May primary ballot.

The initiative would also reinstate locally the Sizemore double-majority requirement that voters repealed on the state level in November 2008. It would require majority turnout as well as majority approval, effectively limiting any fee measures to even-year primary and general elections.

County Counsel John Gray and District Attorney Brad Berry approved a ballot title and explanatory statement for the measure Friday.

That action frees Lockhart to begin circulating petitions. He needs the signatures of 1,987 registered Yamhill County voters by March 18.

The initiative resembles one Lockhart filed earlier, which he withdrew for re-tooling after Gray ruled it required countywide balloting on proposed fee measures, but did not require majority approval in such balloting.

Lockhart's double-majority wording mirrors that of Bill Sizemore's Measure 47, which established such a requirement for property tax measures across the state when approved at the polls in 1996. Sizemore's double-majority measure was repealed through Measure 56 in last year's general election in November.

Gray said the commissioners have approved only one new fee since July 1, establishing a charge of $1,188 for inspection and licensing of a public swimming pool. That is the only action that would be immediately affected, should the measure make the ballot and win passage.

Lockhart said his aim is to force the commissioners to package all of their proposed fee increases together and submit them to voters, presumably at primary or general elections in even-numbered years, as turnout would be unlikely to reach the 50 percent mark otherwise. He said it's a matter of "giving control back to the voters."

He said the three commissioners should not have the power to raise fees on everyone else in the county. Instead, they should be "asking voters for permission," he said.

Sheridan has had such a measure since residents ratified a citizen initiative in November 2006. It got its first big test last November, when voters there ratified an 11.6 percent increase in the city's package of systems development charges, known as SDCs.

Like measures are being proposed for the primary election ballot, also through citizen initiative, in Newberg and Lafayette.

In Newberg, resident Hank Grum wants to change the city's charter, retroactive to Jan. 1, to make all new fees and fee increases subject to voter approval. "I'm tired of my taxes being raised without getting to say yes or no," he told the Newberg Graphic.

The Lafayette measure is an exact copy of the county measure. And sponsor Albert LeMay, who has begun collecting signatures, lists Lockhart as an alternate contact on a filing with the Secretary of State's Office.

A virtually identical measure was enacted in the Portland suburb of Damascus 18 months ago, and City Manager Jim Bennett said it has forced the city to forgo collection of at least $200,000 in fee revenue. He said the money would have helped fund badly needed road maintenance.

If it passes in Yamhill County, "it will impact the ability of the county to provide services," he predicted. He said the Damascus measure includes a double-majority provision, which has proven a particular impediment.

Yamhill County Commissioner Mary Stern expressed doubt about either the wisdom or feasibility of subjecting every proposed fee increase to the voters.

"It would be extremely difficult and extremely expensive to the citizens to have a vote every time we need to raise a fee," she said. It would require a lot of time and money to explain the necessity of every increase, she said.

Fees are necessary to cover the cost of county services, Stern said. She said a fee is not just a euphemism for a tax, as Lockhart had asserted.

"Fees are not assessed generally, on everyone, for the public good," she said. Instead, they affect only those who need a service, such as vaccines for travelers or building permits for someone adding on to their house.

Lockhart maintains fee hikes are unfair. Instead of asking residents to pay higher fees when unemployment hit 12.4 percent in August, he said, the county ought to eliminate some of its employees.

Stern, who noted Lockhart's wife is a public employee herself, said the county has cut positions as part of its budget process. But she said that doesn't eliminate the need for occasional fee increases.

Lockhart termed it unfair for a board of three to make decisions that affect everyone. Stern responded, "Representative government is supposedly what America is about."