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TAXES: Property taxes make up about 40 percent of Pendleton’s general fund
Saturday, March 25, 2017
“When you’re on a fi xed income, it is
a big deal. It’s just spend, spend, tax,
tax. We’re not utilizing what we have.
We need to think outside the box.”
Continued from 1A
Bonds are “non-limited,”
meaning they are exempt
from compression and can
be stacked as high as voters
allow.
Some areas of Umatilla
County
were
heavily
impacted by compression.
Before Measure 5, Helix had
a tax rate of $50 per $1,000
in education taxes, and Echo
had a rate of $38 per $1,000,
according to Umatilla County
Assessment and Taxation
Director Paul Chalmers.
“Helix opted to charge
themselves more, out of pride
of ownership, but now that’s
gone,” he said.
Within Pendleton and
Hermiston, the county’s
biggest cities, rates are
much higher. But even then,
property taxes don’t cover all
services.
Hermiston assistant city
manager Mark Morgan said
property taxes contribute
to the city’s general fund.
While property taxes make
up the bulk of the that fund,
it’s also boosted by city fi nes,
interest earnings, licenses
and service charges, as well
as other revenue to the city.
The general fund goes toward
services including police,
library services, parks and
recreation, planning, streets,
fi nance and the airport.
But Morgan said property
taxes are not always the
biggest determinant of where
businesses choose to build.
“People say raising prop-
erty taxes will kill all business
development. But (it’s) just
one slice of the decision for
those folks.”
Morgan noted DuPont-Pi-
oneer seed company, which
built a factory south of Herm-
iston, despite the fact that
their property taxes would
be lower across the street in
another code area.
“With the utilities for
water, sewer, electrical — it
just made more sense for
them to be north of Penney
Avenue,” Morgan said.
Linda Carter, the fi nance
director for the city of Pend-
leton, said the city also looks
at those numbers in terms of
the general fund.
“Property taxes make
up about 40 percent of the
general fund,” Carter said.
— Geri Weigum, Hermiston resident
Contributed image
This contributed image shows an aerial view of the proposed concept for the new
Pendleton fi re station.
Tax rates in Umatilla County *
BONDS TOTAL **
LOCATION
RATE
ED
GOV
Hermiston
Unincorporated:
$22.10
$16.10
$6.16
$6.16
$11.39
$5.67
$4.50
$4.26
$3,314
$2,415
Pendleton:
Unincorporated:
$18.79
$15.9
$6.14
$6.13
$10.11
$7.26
$2.55
$2.55
$2,819
$2,385
Umatilla:
Unincorporated:
$17.35
$14.26
$6.19
$6.19
$8.08
$5.16
$3.06
$2.90
$2,603
$2,139
Milton-Freewater:
Unincorporated:
$15.80
$11.20
$6.07
$6.07
$7.76
$3.84
$1.96
$1.33
$2,370
$1,680
Ukiah:
Unincorporated:
$12.50
$9.84
$6.09
$6.09
$6.22
$3.54
$0.20
$0.20
$1,875
$1,476
Helix:
Unincorporated:
$20.80
$14.01
$5.80
$5.83
$11.40
$4.63
$3.55
$3.55
$3,120
$2,102
Pilot Rock:
Unincorporated:
$16.59
$13.70
$6.03
$6.03
$8.29
$5.40
$2.25
$2.25
$2,489
$2,055
Echo:
Unincorporated:
$18.74
$13.95
$5.95
$5.95
$9.22
$4.99
$3.56
$3.01
$2,811
$2,093
Adams:
Athena:
Weston:
Unincorporated:
$17.65
$19.43
$18.54
$12.87
$6.13
$5.67
$5.67
$5.67
$8.97
$12.15
$11.25
$5.58
$2.55
$1.61
$1.61
$1.62
$2,648
$2,915
$2,781
$1,931
Stanfi eld:
Unincorporated:
$15.16
$12.57
$5.40
$5.40
$8.26
$5.68
$1.49
$1.49
$2,274
$1,886
* 2016-2017 rates, according to Umatilla County Dept. of Taxation, taken from most common rate within in area.
** For a home with $150,000 assessed value
“If you look at the budget,
property taxes are part of the
source.”
She said the general fund
goes toward services like
police, fi re, parks and recre-
ation and planning, and that
public safety services require
more than 50 percent of the
general fund. Property taxes,
she said, cover a portion of
those services.
“Property taxes won’t
even pay for all of public
safety,” she said.
Some of the county’s
Our smallest
hearing aid
made with
medical-grade
titanium.
smaller towns pay property
taxes nearly half those of
Pendleton and Hermiston, but
also lack many of the services
offered there.
Donna Neumann, the city
recorder of Ukiah, said the
town is happy with some
services.
“We have a wonderful
water and sewer system,” she
said.
The city of about 285
people, on the southern border
of Umatilla County, also has
no police force, and often
has trouble getting assistance
with road repairs.
“We do need other
services,” Neumann said.
“We’re getting along OK, but
we can’t do anything extra
without a grant.”
Neumann said while taxes
are low, she thinks the town’s
citizens might be open to
some increases.
“It would give us the
ability to do more around the
town,” Neumann said. She
said they haven’t discussed it
yet, but it may come up in the
next year.
She said the town has a
volunteer fi re department and
a quick response vehicle, but
for law enforcement they rely
on the sheriff’s department.
“There’s a state (trooper)
out of John Day, so if they’re
coming up this way, they’ll do
a trip through Ukiah — but
it’s not very often,” she said.
“Unless you call, we don’t see
anyone.”
She said the town would
benefi t from more of a police
presence.
“There’s lots of vandalism,
and people who drive without
a license,” she said.
But some residents feel
that even if the rates would
lead to better services, it’s not
really worth it.
Rex Morehouse, a long-
time Pendleton resident,
said he is not in favor of the
bond for a new fi re station
and equipment. He said there
was a bond proposed in 2014,
but the proposed amount had
gone up since then.
“I support the police and
fi re departments, but I don’t
think we can afford that,”
Morehouse said.
Morehouse said the bond,
which will cost taxpayers 62
cents per $1,000, is too much
for him.
“I’m retired, I get no
raises,” he said with a laugh.
At a recent forum about
the school bond, Hermiston
resident Geri Weigum shared
a similar sentiment.
“When you’re on a fi xed
income, it is a big deal,”
Weigum said of the several
bonds the school district has
passed in the last few years.
“It’s just spend, spend, tax,
tax. We’re not utilizing what
we have. We need to think
outside the box.”
“We’re being taxed to
death,” Weigum said.
But Morgan noted that
when it comes to potential
increased taxes, such as the
Hermiston School District
bond, voters should think
about the widespread impact
of those taxes.
“We’re in direct compe-
tition with the Tri-Cities for
not only business, but also
residences,” he said. He
recalled a bid Hermiston had
to get Auto Zone to build a
distribution center here, but
lost out to Pasco.
“The main issue they said
they had with us was, we
didn’t have enough bodies to
fi ll the positions they needed,”
he said. “We need to make
sure we can meet the demands
of people when they come
here. If we’re not creating an
environment where people
want to live, they’re not going
to live here.”
To access a complete list
of code areas and tax rates for
each, visit www.eastorego-
nian.com.
–——
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan at 541-564-
4534 or jramakrishnan@
eastoregonian.com
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