FALLS CITY FOOTBALL
OBERG THRIVES IN NEW SETTING
Page 12A
Volume 141, Issue 41
www.Polkio.com
$1.00
October 12, 2016
Chamber
director
steps
down
IN
YOUR
TOWN
DallaS
City makes adjust-
ments to street plan.
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
»page 3a
DALLAS — The Dallas
Area Chamber of Com-
merce and Visitors Center
will soon have a new ex-
ecutive director.
Bob Brannigan, a
chamber board member,
said the board is in nego-
tiations with a candidate
for the job, but will not
announce who until the
deal is final.
“We are out looking for,
and may have found, our
next executive director,”
he said Monday.
Current Executive Di-
rector Chelsea Metcalfe,
who has been in the post
for 12 years, will stay with
the visitors center to focus
on event planning.
“This is something that
I have been working to-
wards the last several
years,” she said Friday fol-
lowing the chamber’s an-
nouncement that she
would step down. “The
timing is right now. I’m
not going anywhere.”
She said the decision,
made with the board, was
both personal and profes-
sional.
“The jobs have grown
so much. It’s really not fair
to have one person to fill
both of those,” she said.
“It was just time.”
Metcalfe said she need-
ed to re-evaluate her re-
sponsibilities and find a
better balance between
work and personal life.
“I’m refocusing before I
miss it,” she said.
In event planning, Met-
calfe will work the part of
the job that she enjoys the
most.
See ChaMBEr, page 7a
FallS CiTY
Falls City submits
grant to help pay for
sewer upgrades.
»page 14a
inDEpEnDEnCE
Girls soccer team
looks to turn season
around.
»page 13a
EmIly mEnTzEr/Itemizer-Observer
loren Depping and Brent DeMoe unload furniture for the new Family and Community outreach Donation Center.
HELP ‘FILL THE HOME’
MonMoUTh
Council considers
business registration.
»page 14a
New donation center to provide household goods to those in need
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
POLK COUNTY — Your
first apartment probably
didn’t contain half the stuff
your home does now, but
you likely had some things
to sit on or a bed to sleep in.
Maybe you inherited an old
microwave or broom, or
picked up an old couch off
the side of the road.
Imagine if you were flee-
ing an abusive partner or
had been sleeping in Wallace
Park — homeless — and had
nothing but a black trash
bag with a few mismatched
clothes.
“Oftentimes, the folks that
we’re serving are people who
are getting a housing vouch-
er for the first time,” said
Loren Depping, Polk County
Family and Community
Outreach family resource
navigator. “They’ve been liv-
ing in a situation where the
furniture they’re using isn’t
SporTS
theirs, so they don’t have
anything.”
Each year, about 5,000
people come through the
doors at one of the Polk
County resource centers
needing help, said Brent
DeMoe, director of Family
and Community Outreach.
See hoME, page 5a
Highburger helps
Western Oregon foot-
ball find some attitude.
»page 12a
ElECTionS
Independence candi-
dates, measure 96,
Treasurer
Fire chaplain moves on after 29 years
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Dave Pederson makes a
darn good burger — so delicious are his
famous football game grill creations, that
they’ve earned him a spot in the Dallas
High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
“That was very nice of them, but silly
too,” Pederson said with a chuckle.
Serious cheeseburger fans may dis-
agree.
For 15 years, Pederson, the pastor at
Trinity Lutheran Church, served his
“ultimate burger” at Dallas home foot-
ball games. He puts so much cheese on
it that it spills off the burger and melts
on the grill, adding some crispy cheese
for good measure to grilled onions and
other toppings.
“I hate going to a football game and
getting the same bad food,” he said. “I
wanted to have real popcorn with real
butter, and then I wanted to have spe-
»pages 2a, 3a
cial stuff, hamburgers. I try to use the
best ingredients and just make it spe-
cial. I hope that happened.”
Pederson’s service in a different
arena, the Dallas Fire Department, may
be hall-of- fame worthy, too.
This month will end more than 29
years of serving as a department chap-
lain. Pederson and his wife, Karen, are
moving to Colorado following his last
service at Trinity Lutheran on Oct. 23.
See Chaplain, page 7a
Brazeau to
retire in June
itemizer-observer staff report
InDEPEnDEnCE — Cen-
tral School District Super-
intendent and Central
High School Principal Buzz
Brazeau will retire at the
end of the school year. For
more, see next week’s
issue of the Itemizer-Ob-
server.
Most property taxes to go up for 2016
itemizer-observer staff report
POLK COUNTY — Prop-
erty tax bills will be coming
your way soon, and most
owners will see an increase
in their taxes once state-
ments arrive this month.
Polk County Assessor
Doug Schmidt said the total
amount of taxes, special as-
sessments, fees and charges
to be collected for all dis-
tricts in Polk County is ap-
proximately $87.5 million for
the 2016 tax year, an increase
of 3.4 percent compared to
the $84.5 million in 2015.
The primary contributing
factors are the 3 percent in-
crease allowed under Meas-
ure 50, and collecting for
bond repayment, and new
value to properties added
through construction,
Schmidt said.
Property tax statements
will be mailed by Oct. 25 and
taxes are due Nov. 15.
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
Schmidt said the real
market value — the amount
the assessor believes a prop-
erty would sell for if placed
on the market on Jan. 1 —
increased in the county by 7
percent to $8.12 billion. As-
sessed value (the value
property taxes are based on)
grew by approximately 4.9
percent to $5.62 billion.
Schmidt noted that while
assessed value may have in-
creased by 3 percent or
more, property taxes may
have changed by a different
percentage.
In Dallas, a city bond re-
payment decreased by 15
cents per $1,000 of assessed
value, and a Dallas School
District bond decreased by 6
cents per $1,000. In West
Salem, a Salem-Keizer
Schools bond decreased by
65 cents per $1,000.
The opposite happened
in Monmouth and Inde-
2016-17 Polk County Property Tax Averages
Note: The values shown below are for demonstration purposes
and may not reflect the actual Average Assessed Value for that city.
Average
Assessed
Value
Tax
Rate
Percentage
Average
Yearly
Taxes
Change
from
2015-16
Dallas
Falls City
Independence
Monmouth
$152,751
$86,332
$123,114
$147,144
14.7988
12.3206
19.8680
18.2330
$2,261
$1,064
$2,446
$2,683
1.4%
2.9%
4.1%
4.6%
West Salem
Willamina
$199,751
$84,574
17.6568
15.2059
$3,557
$1,286
-0.8%
2.1%
Source: Polk County Assessor
pendence, where taxes
may have grown more
than the increase in as-
sessed value because Cen-
tral School District’s bond
repayment grew by 35
wed
thu
fri
Get involved in pro-
moting tourism in
Polk County at a
networking event
at left Coast Cellars
tonight.
5-7:30 p.m. Free.
Hear candidates for
Polk County sheriff,
House District 20,
and Senate District
12 in a debate at the
Dallas Civic Center.
7-8:30 p.m. Free.
rock out or enjoy
the music at the
Guthrie Park
Acoustic music Jam
Session.
6:30 p.m. Free (do-
nations accepted).
Mostly cloudy
Hi: 63
Lo: 51
Rain and wind
Hi: 60
Lo: 52
Showers
Hi: 60
Lo: 51
cents per $1,000.
The cities of Dallas, In-
dependence, Monmouth
and Salem have active
urban renewal districts,
which will generate ap-
sat
Discover a new tal-
ent — and a new
use for pine nee-
dles — at river
Gallery’s pine nee-
dle baskets class.
11:30 a.m. $40.
Rain and wind
Hi: 59
Lo: 51
proximately $2.89 million
for those districts this year.
In Dallas, the URD will
receive $158,162; Inde-
p e n d e n c e w i l l re c e i v e
$500,889; Monmouth will
receive $273,310; and the
remainder, $1.95 million,
will go to Salem.
Restrictions under Meas-
ure 50, which limits property
taxes to $10 per $1,000 of
real market value, caused
the loss of $417,403 in col-
lections for districts in the
county.
Schmidt encourages peo-
ple to review their tax state-
ments for accuracy of infor-
mation. If changes are need-
ed, call the assessor’s office
at 503-623-8391.
If you wish to have your
value reviewed, that can be
done free of charge. Those
still not agreeing with their
real market value can file for
an appeal. Instructions for
filing an appeal are on the
back of tax statements.
If you have questions
about where or how to pay
your taxes, call the Tax Office
at 503-623-9264.
sun
mon
tue
Increase your vo-
cabulary by check-
ing out a new word
or two to celebrate
national Dictionary
Day.
Dallas Chamber of
Commerce lunch-
eon works double as
a forum on meas-
ures 97 and 98.
rSVP by Friday.
Show off your jump
rope skills at rope
Busters at Whit-
worth Elementary
School on Tuesdays
and Thursdays.
2:30 p.m. $30.
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. $12.
Showers
Hi: 60
Lo: 50
Showers
Hi: 60
Lo: 49
Showers
Hi: 58
Lo: 48