With last week’s certification of 2,703 petition signatures, Oregon City voters will get an opportunity to amend their city’s rules to vote on municipal proposals of urban-renewal debt.

After filing a prospective petition last year, the “Your right to vote” committee for Oregon City urban renewal had until July 2013 to collect 2,510 signatures for a proposed change to city charter.

But Barbara Renken, one of the measure’s three chief petitioners, said that she had overwhelming success in collecting signatures among homeowners near two public elementary schools closed this year. She said they were concerned about Oregon City School District budget shortfalls and wanted help to control their taxes.

“We are in agreement that urban-renewal funds should and must be used to revitalize these blighted areas, and it is time for the voters to be able to vote on bonds in an urban-renewal district, just like they do for other bonds in the city,” Renken said.

Mayor Doug Neeley is among those who are opposed to the measure. He points out that schools get funds through the state budget, so are affected little by local urban-renewal decisions, while Oregon City’s budget relies on property values.

“It would be a major killer to development if it passes because no developer is going to sit around and wait for something to pass (a citywide vote) if they can go before a regular urban-renewal commission elsewhere,” Neeley said.

Renken alleges that developers, landowners and planning committees have expanded the definition of redevelopment to include primary development. She and other chief petitioners believe that Oregon City voters should get the same input on urban renewal as unincorporated areas of the county following last November’s vote.

“We feel development of undeveloped areas is the responsibility of the developer, and renewal is the responsibility of the city and its voters to be able to vote on bonds created to pay for debt incurred,” she said.

Neeley argues that the efforts to vote on urban renewal in Oregon City have been unsuccessful before, because average citizens do not want to weigh in on the complexities of tax-increment financing.

“They’ve seen some positive things happening downtown, but they often don’t know that it’s done through urban-renewal funds,” he said.

The City Commission is expected to place the measure on the November ballot during its regular meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 1.