He adds that the city of Portland provides Porta-Potties
to areas along the river where people camp, and it helps
prevent human waste from entering the water stream.
Michelle Emmons, also of Willamette Riverkeeper,
says she’s worked locally to educate the public on this
issue. She says volunteer work is restricted in certain areas
due to the hazardous nature of the materials concerned,
including human waste and used needles. “This isn’t
about villainizing people who are homeless or have
drug addiction,” she says. “One suggestion has been the
installation of Dumpsters. What if we provided some way
for people to be more responsible?”
Roberts says that since Union Pacific is such a large
organization, it takes time to implement actions like local
cleanups. UP spokesman Mark Davis says the area was
cleaned earlier this year, and the railroad is working
with local stakeholders on a solution to keep people from
“putting themselves in an unsafe position” to “access the
areas that are requiring cleanup.” See the video at wkly.
ws/1uf. — Amy Schneider
THREAT OF KICKER
BRINGS BUDGET WORRIES
Oregon’s economy isn’t exactly booming, but it is
improving, and that could lead to about $300 million in
tax rebates to individual taxpayers if revenues exceed
2 percent above official state projections in the 2013-
15 biennium. That might sound good to taxpayers, but
the potential loss of revenue has some Oregonians very
worried.
The “kicker,” as it is called, would lead to cutbacks
in education, health care, childcare assistance and other
state-funded programs, says Charles Sheketoff, executive
director of the Oregon Center for Public Policy. “It’s a
fiscally irresponsible policy,” he says. “The prudent course
of action would be to save unanticipated revenues into a
rainy day fund because there will be another recession.
It’s just a matter of when.”
One new factor this biennium is Phil Knight’s $500
million fundraising challenge for Oregon Health &
Helen Attacks
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Science University. If major donors sell stock to make
contributions, then that could boost their individual tax
liability, which in turn would increase state revenues.
Knight has not made any public announcements so far
about joining UO’s $2 billion fundraising goal.
Back in 2007, the state spent $1.1 billion on kicker
checks that “disproportionately flowed to the most well-
off Oregonians,” Sheketoff says, and this happened just
as the Great Recession was beginning to take its toll. The
kicker has triggered eight times since it was approved by
ballot measure in 1980. Corporate taxes no longer qualify
for rebates, thanks to a voter-approved change in the law
in 2012.
The revenue benchmark was established when the
Legislature set the budget for the 2013-14 biennium.
The projection was set high, but it only takes about $70
million in surplus revenue to trigger the kicker, according
to the most recent state baseline revenue outlook, and
that number is shrinking. Oregon’s General Fund revenue
forecast for the biennium is $15.8 billion. See wkly.ws/1ub.
The next quarterly revenue forecast will be released
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eugeneweekly.com • November 13, 2014
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