OREGON
A6 — THE OBSERVER
STATE BRIEFS
Senate confirms
Sams as National
Park Service director
WASHINGTON — The
U.S. Senate in a unanimous
vote late Thursday, Nov. 18,
approved the nomination
of Chuck Sams as National
Park Service director.
Sams is a former long-
time administrator for the
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reserva-
tion near Pendleton and the
former area representative
on the Pacific Northwest
Electric Power and Conser-
vation Planning Council.
The vote came after U.S.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Or-
egon, went to the Senate
floor and asked the Senate
to pass the nomination
by unanimous consent,
according to a press release
from Wyden’s office.
“Chuck Sams is the
right nominee to lead the
National Park Service as it
addresses these challenges.
I know Chuck. He is hard-
working. He is committed,”
Wyden said in the press
release. “Chuck is a role
model in the stewardship of
American land and waters,
wildlife and history. And
now thanks to the Senate’s
unanimous decision to con-
firm his nomination, Con-
gress and parkgoers will
have someone steady and
experienced to rely on in
the years ahead.”
Wrong-way driver on
I-84 was man missing
from Nevada
PENDLETON — A
traffic stop near Pendleton
led police to find a man
missing from Nevada.
Oregon State Police
reported a black Chev-
rolet Silverado at 8:12 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 16, was
heading west in the east-
bound lanes from Exit 209
in Pendleton. A Umatilla
County sheriff s deputy
was entering the freeway at
milepost 207 and stopped
the pickup. Ryan Sharp,
senior trooper with Oregon
State Police, arrived soon
after.
The pickup’s driver
was confused, according
to OSP, and a check on
his identification revealed
he was an 82-year-old
man who was reported as
a missing or endangered
person from Reno.
State police took the
driver to its office in Pend-
leton and contacted his
wife. Police then checked
him into a local hotel and
secured his vehicle in the
OSP parking lot.
Oregon State Police also
reported the man’s wife and
a relative were leaving Reno
the morning of Nov. 17 to
get him in Pendleton.
Umatilla County
serial offender back
in jail for theft
HERMISTON — Local
offender Carlos Joaquin
Barragan, of Hermiston, is
again in jail.
Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston said offi-
cers arrested Barragan, 43,
in relation to all-terrain
vehicle thefts in October.
Police on Oct. 10 at
about 7:30 a.m. responded
to the 700 block of West
Highland Avenue on a
report of a suspicious
vehicle. Officers found a
pickup hauling a trailer car-
rying three stolen ATVs,
Edmiston said.
The suspect took off
from the vehicle, but police
caught and arrested Mayro
Guzman, 30, for vehicle
theft and four counts of
first-degree theft. The
investigation continued,
Edmiston said, and led to
Barragan.
Police caught up with
Barragan on Nov. 15 at his
father’s home in Hermiston.
Edmiston said the family
cooperated with officers,
who found Barragan trying
to hide in a crawl space.
Police arrested Barragan
for four counts of first-de-
gree theft and three counts
of vehicle theft and booked
him into the Umatilla
County Jail, Pendleton.
Edmiston said this
makes the 15th time Herm-
iston police have arrested
Barragan, who also has
another 79 citations.
Wildlife rescue
reports six raptors
too injured to save
PENDLETON — The
wild bird rescue operation
Blue Mountain Wildlife in
Pendleton reported another
rough week for raptors.
The nonprofit organiza-
tion and facility at 71046
Appaloosa Lane in its
weekly newsletter reported
it had only seven admis-
sions last week, but six of
those were for raptors and
none could be saved.
Three great horned owls
had humerus fractures,
and a fourth was tangled in
a fence. A sharp-shinned
hawk was shot, and a red-
tailed hawk likely was
struck by a vehicle.
Prairie City to break
ground on water
project next month
PRAIRIE CITY —
After more than two years
of working out the details,
Prairie City’s Faiman
Springs water project is
expected to break ground
next month.
An emergency pro-
curement due to the recent
drought allowed the city to
bypass a formal bid pro-
cess, according to Prairie
City Mayor Jim Hamsher.
Hamsher said the
project would move for-
ward with Winegar Exca-
vation, a Prairie City-based
contractor, and other sub-
contractors starting Dec.
1, adding he expects the
project will be completed
by late spring or early
summer.
The project will tie
an existing well near the
Faiman Springs site into the
current city water system,
Hamsher said. The project
includes constructing a
pump station and laying
between 8,000 and 9,000
feet of piping.
Prairie City has suffered
from chronic water short-
ages for years.
— EO Media Group
SaTuRday, NOVEmBER 20, 2021
Oregon’s fuel tax rises again
The 2-cent increase
comes as more
drivers buy less gas
By ZANE SPARLING
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Gas prices
are up. They’re about to
get even higher.
Oregon drivers will
pay 2 cents more on every
gallon of gasoline begin-
ning on Jan. 1, 2022, as
the state’s fuel tax rises to
$0.38 per gallon.
The pump price jump
was baked into House
Bill 2017 — the omnibus
$5.3 billion transporta-
tion package passed by
state lawmakers that year
— which included three
previous price hikes and a
final two-cent increase set
for 2024, at which point
drivers will be paying 10
cents more per gallon in
tax.
There’s also a separate
10-cent per gallon fuel tax
collected by the city of
Portland, plus an $0.184
federal gas tax, meaning
Rose City consumers are
currently paying roughly
$0.64 in taxes on every
gallon of gas.
Oregon Department of
Transportation data shows
that state fuel tax rev-
enue has recovered some-
what from the COVID-19
andrew Cutler/The Observer
A readerboard at One Stop Mart, 408 Adams Ave., La Grande,
shows gas prices on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021. Oregon drivers will
pay 2 cents more on every gallon of gasoline beginning on Jan. 1,
2022, as the state’s fuel tax rises to $0.38 per gallon.
slump, even though
drivers still are buying
less gas.
As virus restrictions
emptied public spaces and
converted most white-
collar commuters into
home workers, gross tax
revenue dropped from
$620 million in calendar
year 2019 to $589 million
in 2020.
According to ODOT
Budget Manager Daniel
Porter, the state has col-
lected $486 million in
fuel tax revenue through
September 2021, about
$20 million more than
this time in 2019, with
the final quarter of rev-
enue yet to be tabulated.
But the number of gallons
of gasoline sold is lag-
ging previous years, with
1.357 billion gallons sold
through September of this
year compared with 1.38
billion in September 2019.
All told, some 1.829
billion gallons of gas
passed through the pump
in 2019, compared with
just 1.645 billion last year.
“Annual compari-
sons on revenue wouldn’t
quite be apples to apples,”
said ODOT spokesperson
Shelley M. Snow. “If you
look at gallons sold we’re
still about 2% off of where
we were in 2019.”
Lawmakers have con-
sidered proposals to ditch
Oregon’s fuel tax in favor
of a tax on every mile
traveled, which would
return electric vehicle
users to the tax base, but
so far it’s just an idea.
Statewide, the average
price for regular unleaded
gas is $3.78 per gallon,
according to the Amer-
ican Automobile Asso-
ciation. That’s nearly a
buck and a quarter more
than the average unleaded
gas cost of $2.59 a gallon
from this time last year,
though still less than the
price peak recorded in
2008, per AAA.
The DMV fees charged
when drivers renew their
vehicle tags or apply for a
trip permit or vehicle title
will also be rising about
3% next year.
Higher wages drive state revenue
Wage gap narrows
Oregonians expected to receive $1.9
billion next year in ‘kicker’ tax credits
By JULIA SHUMWAY
Oregon Capital Chronicle
SALEM — Higher
wages are driving up Ore-
gon’s projected tax rev-
enue, but most mid-
dle-class workers won’t
feel the benefits of larger
paychecks over the next
year because of infla-
tion, state economists said
Wednesday, Nov. 17.
A quarterly economic
forecast from the state
Department of Administra-
tive Services predicted that
Oregon will recover from
a pandemic-induced reces-
sion much more quickly
than it did from the Great
Recession. Higher wages,
especially for low-income
workers, are making up
for expiring federal aid,
according to the forecast.
But labor shortages
and supply chain disrup-
tions are driving prices
up and eating into fami-
lies’ budgets. And the Port-
land area, which contains
roughly half the state’s
population and jobs, is lag-
ging behind the rest of
Oregon in recovering from
the pandemic.
With Oregonians
earning more money, the
state is collecting more
income tax revenue than
expected when the cur-
rent budget cycle started in
July. Oregonians who filed
Across the board,
wages adjusted for infla-
tion are up about 8% since
the start of the pandemic
in Oregon in March 2020.
Workers making less
than $20 an hour saw the
most significant increases,
while those making more
still saw raises but they
didn’t keep pace with
inflation.
Normally, inflation
would hit low-income
workers the hardest, state
economist Josh Lehner
said.
If you’re living pay-
check to paycheck, higher
prices mean those pay-
checks don’t go as far,
he said. Workers who
earn more and don’t rou-
tinely spend everything
they earn might need to
decrease the amount they
save, but they also stand to
benefit from rising returns
on their investments.
On average, low-in-
come workers in Oregon
are increasing their stan-
dard of living, while mid-
dle-income workers are
beginning to struggle
with the erosive effects of
inflation.
“Basically, if you’re
more than $20 an hour
you’re seeing wage gains,
but not as fast as inflation,
so you’re seeing some real
wage declines,” Lehner
said. “From a broader soci-
etal economic perspec-
tive, maybe some reduc-
tion in wage inequality
taxes in 2020 and 2021 are
already expected to receive
$1.9 billion next year in
“kicker” tax credits trig-
gered when the state col-
lects more in taxes than it
budgeted, with a credit of
$420 for the median tax-
payer. Forecasters now pre-
dict the state will refund
$558 million in 2024 as
well.
A rosy forecast for state
government revenue pre-
sented to Oregon’s House
and Senate finance com-
mittees came as other leg-
islative committees heard
dire warnings about a
coming wave of evic-
tions as tenants struggle to
afford rent.
“It’s still really quite
something to grasp that
we’re in a situation with
a revenue forecast where
we’re seeing additional
revenue over what had
been forecast; things look
really rosy that way,” said
Rep. Nancy Nathanson,
a Eugene Democrat who
chairs the House com-
mittee. “There are other
legislative commit-
tees hearing very trou-
bled information about
people who are in danger
of losing their homes and
other types of challenges
for some of Oregon’s busi-
nesses and individuals.
How can this be true at the
same time?”
would have some broader
benefits, even in a high
inflation environment, but
of course, when the typ-
ical worker seeing real
wage declines, and you’re
paying more at the pump,
more at the store, that
really starts to hit your
budget.”
For the most part, econ-
omists expect higher
prices to begin to sub-
side as supply catches
up to demand for prod-
ucts that were manufac-
tured at much slower rates
than normal during the
pandemic.
For instance, used car
prices are up roughly
40% since the start of
the pandemic because of
a shortage of semicon-
ductor chips needed for
new cars, but those prices
are expected to decrease as
manufacturing ramps up.
Other areas, including
rising costs to buy or rent
homes, are more con-
cerning, state economist
Mark McMullen said.
“We’re seeing a tre-
mendous amount of infla-
tion there, but unlike what
we’re seeing in terms of
a lot of the other durable
goods, we can’t expect
a huge supply response
that’s going to come and
save the day and bring
down house prices and
bring down rents going
forward,” he said. “So
that’s something where
there may be a role for
policymakers.”
Northeast Oregon Directory of Churches
Cove United
Methodist Church
1708 Jasper St., Cove, OR
North Powder
United
Methodist Church
390 E. St., North Powder, OR
JOIN US... Catch the Spirit!
First Christian
Church
(Disciples of Christ)
Worship
10:00 a.m.
~Join us at The Lord’s Table~
SUMMERVILLE
BAPTIST CHURCH
LA GRANDE UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH
A church for your whole family
Visit us at summervillebaptistchurch.org
The Place
62848 Philynda Loop in Island City
901 Penn Avenue 963-2623 “We are called to Serve”
lgdisciples@gmail.com
Worship: 9:00 a.m. Cove
Worship: 10:00 a.m. N. Powder
Sunday Services:
Sunday School & Adult Bible Classes
9:45AM
Children’s Church & Worship Service
11:00AM
Family Worship Service
6:00PM
Wednesday:
Prayer Mtg, Children’s Bible Club, Youth
Group 7:00PM
GRACE COMMUNITY
LUTHERAN CHURCH
Sunday School for all ages - 9:00 am
Sunday Worship 10:00 am
Phone: 541-568-4230
grace.lutherancove@gmail.com
www.lagrandeumc.org
www.imblercc@gmail.com
Sunday Services
9:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
Sunday School
Worship Service
La Grande Seventh-day
A Place where hope is found in Jesus
Join us in Fellowship & Worship
Saturday all age classes 9:30 am
Saturday Worship 11:00 am
1612 4th Street – 963-2498
For service information go to
440 Ruckman, Imbler 534-2201
Adventist Church
“OPEN HEARTS, OPEN MINDS, OPEN DOORS”
Pastor Taylor Gould
Imbler
Christian
Church
2702 Adams Avenue, La Grande
963-4018
109 18th Street • 963-3402
Sunday School 9:15 a.m.
Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m.
lagrandeor.adventistchurch.org
Learning for Today and Eternity
Little Friends
Christian Preschool/Childcare 963-6390
La Grande Adventist Christian School
K-8th Grade 963-6203
FIRST LANDMARK
MISSIONARY BAPTIST
CHURCH
1812 1st St. La Grande
Pastor Dave Tierce • 541-605-0215
We use the King James Version Bible
Sunday School - 10:00 am
Worship 11:00 am
Sunday Evening Bible Study - 3:00 pm (Effective June 10)
Wednesday Evening - 6:30 pm
“Where you can find TRUTH according to the scriptures”
www.flmbclagrande.com
Services
This
Week