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
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1992
$100.000
125 00
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$125
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$107 XX©
$22.50
$2.40$
$113
1994
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$20.00
32.290
$97
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$122506
$1750
$2,144
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1996
$131JOM>
$1500
$1366
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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)