Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 13, 1992)
COMMUNITY G~Q LJL E G E OregonCityOregon Vol. XXV No. 23 May 13,1992 Voters decide future of CCC Tax Base Proposed German folk dancers take a rest during their performance Monday as part of Celebration International. Activities including entertainment and food from many countries continue today and Friday. Voter turnout sets new high New ASG President chosen by Robert A. Hibberd Co-Editor-In-Chief Amy Gaskell was elected Presi dent and Shauna Barnett was elected Vice President during last week’s ASG elections. Gaskell received 124 votes while Alisa Dean garnished 72 votes, Brian Wilson got 49 votes and Harold Isackson drew 43 votes in the ASG Presidential Election. In the Vice Presidential elec- tion, Barnett received 142 votes while Jeff DuBel1 came away with 118 votes. Students voted 217 to 42 to amend the ASG Constitution. Both Gaskell and Barnett are glad to have been elected to the ASG officer positions. “It feels great. Feels good. I’m excited for next year,” said Barnett following the election process. “I’m overwhelmingly happy, Above: Amy Gaskell; below Shauna Barnett extremely happy,” commented newly-elected President Gaskell. In retrospect, Gaskell views both her campaign and the election as a success. “I am very grateful that I won with what some would call a good- sizedmargin. That tells me that the majority of students could identify with me and agree that I was the most qualified. The students made the right choice. I really enjoyed all the people I met in the campaign process. I want to continue to meet students,” replied Gaskell. Bamett views her campaign as a victory and also as something that she could have done better at “I could have done a better job with promotion but my person-to- person relations were good.” Student voter turnout was the largest in recent memory. Both newly elected officers were happy to see big student participation. “I’m very impressed and I thank students for voting,” commented Gaskell. “I’m pleased to see a large voter turnout,” said Barnett. Although satisfied with the election results, Gaskell sees very little time to savor the victory. “I realize that Shauna (Bar nett) and I have very little time to celebrate because we are already being bombarded with responsi bilities,” Gaskell mentioned. The new ASG Officers will be sworn in tomorrow. There were some unexpected write-in votes in last week's elec- tion. Clyde Drexler received a vote for President while Terry Porter, Bart Simpson, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse each received a vote for Vice President. “In order for a vote to count, it must be for a student at Clacka mas,” stated ASG Advisor Jim Jackson. by Nolan Kidwell News Editor The voters of Clackamas County will have the opportunity to vote on a tax base proposal May 19, which has been unanimously approved by the CCC Board of Education earlier in the year. “Clackamas is the only col lege in the state that doesn’t have a tax base,” said College Presi dent John Keyser. The college now operates under a serial levy which requires voter approval every two to three years. “We’ve always been operat ing on the margin in that scene,” explained Keyser. “We have to pass another election every two or three years to keep our doors open.” According to Keyser, if this tax base election does not pass, the college would attempt another serial levy election in March of next year. “Ifwegetto June, 1993 with out some kind of elec tion passing, we would face closure of the col lege,” he said. Keyser explained that many voters correlate a tax base with a six percent annual increase which older tax bases often contained. “This will not increase property taxes,” he said. “It won’t increase their (property owners) taxes and it won’t decrease their taxes. It is different from oth er tax bases be cause the decrease from Measure 5 outweighs any increases.” Under Ballot Measure 5, over the next four years, die local schools will receive $5 instead of the prior $15 which it received for every $1,000 of assessed property tax value. The state is required to Property Taxes 1992-1996 I Yew Valve* Kat» 1992 $100.000 125 00 J2JOO $125 wb $107 XX© $22.50 $2.40$ $113 1994 SI ¡MW $20.00 32.290 $97 1«5 $122506 $1750 $2,144 $7» 1996 $131JOM> $1500 $1366 $55 CBoafe: m •Anauai Increase. •wx •m 79b make up the difference until 1995- 1996. Clackamas will see a rate reduction from $1.42 to nearly 47 cents value for every $1,000 as sessed value. “Even though Measure 5 has created a real crisis, at least with the passage of a tax base would have the advantage of ensuring that we would keep our doors open,” Keyser said. “This doesn’t solve the long-term financial prob lems of the college created by Measure 5, but it is a step toward stability." Accordin g to Keyser, Clacka mas’ “capacity is more and more limited by our resources.” “What has happened with Measure 5 is that the college no longer has the flexibility of ask ing taxpayers for more help,” he said. A tax base, Keyser feels, would lock-in the college’s share of a decreasing amount of prop erty tax dollars. Property Tax Rate (post Measure 5)
