Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber is pushing for a bill that would force a county income tax in distressed counties that can't pay for essential services.

Remond Mayor George Endicott is also the President of the League of Oregon Cities.  He met with Kitzhaber on Monday and told the Governor that the league opposes such a move.

Endicott says the bill would "punish" cities in those hard hit counties even though the cities are not having fiscal problems.  The counties most likely impacted are several in southwestern Oregon who've been hit hard by the recession and a big shortfall in timber funds from the Federal government.  They are facing the equivalency of bankruptcy.

Endicott says that citizens in these areas have already voted down property tax increases that would put more money in the county budgets. 

"If they were willing to self impose a property tax on themselves that would work.  Either you do it for yourself or someone is going to do it to you.  You cannot have a situation where it's anarchy." 

Ultimately, the State is responsible if a county goes "bankrupt".  So, the governor is pushing for a way to make those areas pay for their services, rather than making the rest of the citizens in Oregon make up for the shortfall. 

Mayor Endicott was a guest on 1110 KBND's Your Town, Wednesday, March 20th.   You can listen to the entire interview on this website Podcast under "Your Town."