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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2013)
city news City Begins Budget Process On March 19, 2013 Vernonia City Administrator Bill Haack kicked off the City budget process when he presented the City Budget Message and the 2013-14 Budget to the Budget Committee. According to Haack’s Budget Message the City of Vernonia’s total budget is $7,722,696; this compares to last year’s adopted budget of $4,393,939; an increase year to year of $3,328,757 or 76%. The increase is directly related to capital improvement projects planned this coming year. The City is forecasting expending at least $3,000,000 on planned wastewater facility improvements – approximately 50 percent of the total project costs. Haack noted that in the past year the community has seen a new school open and a former school campus transition to become a new park; seen flood damaged buildings elevated and razed and plans for a new social services complex emerge. The City has also seen plans become clear for the wastewater facility upgrade. Haack explained that the budget used the goals of department heads, city committees and City Council as a basis for its design. This years budget requires no utility rate increase to achieve balance. General Fund and Enterprise Funds revenue growth continues to lag due to the slow economic recovery, depressed property assessments and a decision at this time to not raise utility rates. However, City Council will review professional assessments of both the water and sewer utility rate and may direct staff to modify rates in the future. The City Council has directed staff to complete an update of the Master Capital Plan and Master Park Plan. These will be used by City Council and the Budget Committee in years to come to establish a more formal approach to Capital Improvement Plan investments. ORS 294.525 authorizes the establishment of reserve funds and the City budget may make annual transfers to reserves. Three of the four reserve accounts are new in this budget cycle. The fourth will be eliminated as funds previously tracked in this fund were Saturday, March 23rd & 30th march21 2013 dispersed to the three new reserve funds in order to comply with local budget law. The general fund account will be a sinking fund for assets owned by the city. The parks reserve fund will be the same for park assets, and the water reserve fund will serve upgrades to distribution and production components of the waterworks. The Budget Committee is made up of volunteers and current City Council; during this process all committee members are seen as equal. A Chair and Vice-Chair are elected to maintain procedure, quorum and etiquette. Current members of the Budget Committee are: Brett Costley, George Guyett, George Tice, Sally Harrison, Susan Wagner, Josette Mitchell, Randy Parrow, Kim Tierney, Donna Webb, and Bruce McNair. The next Budget Committee meeting will be Tuesday, April 2 at 6:00 PM at the VCLC, 939 Bridge Street. The public is welcome to attend. Public comments will be taken at the beginning and end of each fund discussion. Additional meetings are scheduled as needed for April 9, 16 and 30; May 7, 14, and 21; and June 4, and 11. You may obtain a copy of the proposed budget (limited number of copies) by contacting Finance Officer Angie Handegard at (503) 429-5291. The budget will be posted on the City of Vernonia website. http://www.vernonia- or.gov/government/budget.asp. Loggerbots Take 3 rd Place 3 Publisher and Managing Editor Scott Laird 503-367-0098 scott@vernoniasvoice.com Contributors Chip Bubl Dr. Ken Cox Tobie Finzel Bill Haack Dennis Nelson Jack Phillips Wolfgang Rotbart Sonia Spackman Melissa Zavales Photography Scott Laird DeAnna Pearl Want to advertise? Have an article? Contact: scott@vernoniasvoice.com One year subscriptions (24 issues) $35 Vernonia’s Voice is published on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month. Vernonia’s Voice, LLC PO Box 55 Vernonia, OR 97064 503-367-0098 www.VernoniasVoice.com continued from front page Members of the Loggerbots 2013 team were: Garrett Mullikin, Andrew Chaney, Jacob Eyrrick, An- drew Jennings, Conner Larke, Ben- jamin Skanes, Sarah Wagner, Megan Ely, Heather Patton, Bradley Ely, Jef- frey Goodman, Tim Jennings, Nicholas Rainbolt, Quentin Skanes, Bailey Wil- liams, Kaitlyn Eyrrick. Communty mentors this season were: Chris Dass, Jack Finzel, Jay An- derson, Mitch Seibert, Michael Justice, Brandon Krause, Daniel Millikin, Jim buxton, Jeff Ely and Susie Crawford- Rainbolt. FIRST Robotics is an organized international program that encourages youth to compete using knowledge Sunday, March 24th & 31st based in science, technology, engineer- ing and mathematics. FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Sci- ence and Technology. FIRST Robotic Programs are available for students in grades K through 12. Each year in January school teams from around the Northwest re- gion are given a basic starter kit and a series of tasks that will be worth points in the competition. The team must de- sign a robot that can successfully com- plete tasks of their choosing in order to score points. This year competing teams had to design a robot that would shoot a frisbee through targets as well as climb a metal pyramid. Happy Hour Mon-Fri 4-7 Lady’s Night Wed 5-12 Cedar Side Inn “STILL BIKER FRIENDLY” Taco Tuesday from opening until 9 PM 3 hardshell or 1 softshell $4.25 EVENTS Prime Rib every second Saturday 5-9 PM Karaoke every Friday 9 PM-close iheck our Facebook page for daily specials and upcoming events 756 Bridge Street, Vernonia 503-429-5841 • Specialty hamburgers • Draft beer & mixed drinks • Pool tables & satelite TV • Special live music events • Free Wi-fi Sun - Thurs 11 AM - Midnight • 733 Bridge St, Vernonia March 30 Third Member April 6 Play It Again Karaoke April 13 Probable Cause Now Beer & Kegs to go Fri - Sat 11 AM - 2:30 AM • 503-429-9999
