2A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2015
6tDtH VHt to VurYHy SoVViElH GHYHloSDElH PinHrDl GHSoVitV
By +,//ARY BORR8D
Capital Bureau
It could get easier for min-
ing companies to ¿ nd promising
sites in s outhern and e astern Or-
egon, thanks to a new project the
Oregon Department of Geology
and Mineral Industries plans to
start soon.
The agency will spend the
next year evaluating which min-
eral deposits in s outhern and
e astern Oregon counties would
be most “economically devel-
opable,” under legislation that
state lawmakers passed earlier
this year. State mineral regu-
lators will also include a list of
all existing mineral inventories
in the study, evaluate the cost
to post mineral records online
and recommend potential future
mineral assessments.
House Bill 3089 set aside
$25,000 from the state general
fund for the department to com-
plete the study.
Richard Riggs, assistant di-
rector for the agency’s mineral
land regulation and reclamation
program, said the goal is to “do a
mineral resources assessment in
Courtesy of Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries
The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Indus-
tries will spend the next year studying the locations and
economic viability of mineral deposits in eastern and
southern Oregon, under a bill the Legislature passed ear-
lier this year. One of the state’s existing gold mines is the
Twin Lake Ranch site operated by Western Mine Develop-
ment in Baker County.
RHgulDtHV Pining
DnG Grilling
those areas for things that could
actually create jobs.”
Although the bill called for
the agency to estimate the cost
to post more records online,
Riggs said employees might
start that work as part of the
study project.
The Department of Geology
and Mineral Industries regulates
all mining and drilling in Oregon
above the ordinary high-water
line, and also researches land-
slides and other natural hazards.
ACCUWEATHER ® FORECAST FOR ASTORIA
Astoria 5-Day Forecast
Tonight
Mainly clear
57°
Tuesday
The Dalles
64/90
Astoria
57/71
Portland
59/82
Corvallis
55/86
Eugene
54/88
Pendleton
66/92
Salem
56/86
Albany
56/86
Wednesday
Burns
49/88
Medford
65/94
Partly sunny;
breezy in the
afternoon
71°
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2015
71°
Thursday
54°
Friday
Clouds breaking
at times for some
sunshine
Mostly sunny and
beautiful
55°
74°
56°
Almanac
Sun and Moon
Astoria through Sunday.
Temperatures
High ........................................... 74°
Low ............................................ 55°
Normal high ............................... 68°
Normal low ................................. 54°
Precipitation
Yesterday ................................ 0.00"
Month to date .......................... 0.00"
Normal month to date ............. 0.05"
Year to date ........................... 27.78"
Normal year to date .............. 36.99"
Sunset tonight .................. 8:43 p.m.
Sunrise Tuesday .............. 6:00 a.m.
Moonrise today ............... 10:35 p.m.
Moonset today ............... 10:08 a.m.
Regional Cities
Today
Hi Lo W
86 50 t
84 51 t
70 58 pc
90 54 pc
66 58 pc
86 51 pc
95 65 pc
65 53 pc
66 55 pc
City
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Eugene
Ilwaco
Klamath Falls
Medford
Newport
North Bend
Today
Hi Lo W
92 71 pc
88 72 pc
82 60 s
86 58 t
83 66 pc
83 60 pc
96 73 t
72 53 pc
90 77 pc
86 62 pc
87 70 pc
106 79 s
84 66 pc
96 76 s
89 77 c
95 73 pc
93 78 pc
90 75 s
90 70 pc
92 75 pc
91 73 pc
79 64 t
71 61 pc
82 59 pc
95 77 pc
Last
Aug 6
New
First
Aug 14
Full
Aug 22
Aug 29
Under the Sky
Tues.
Hi Lo W
88 50 t
85 46 t
71 57 pc
88 51 pc
66 58 pc
85 51 pc
94 63 pc
65 51 pc
68 54 pc
National Cities
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Denver
Des Moines
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Honolulu
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Memphis
Miami
Nashville
New Orleans
New York
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Francisco
Seattle
Washington, DC
Klamath Falls
51/85
Partly sunny
56°
72°
Ontario
60/95
Bend
51/85
City
Olympia
Pendleton
Portland
Roseburg
Salem
Seaside
Spokane
Vancouver
Yakima
Today
Hi Lo W
82 53 pc
92 66 pc
87 59 pc
92 61 pc
89 56 pc
68 58 pc
95 66 c
86 58 pc
96 59 pc
Tues.
Hi Lo W
79 52 pc
92 61 pc
82 57 pc
91 59 pc
86 53 pc
68 58 pc
88 59 pc
81 56 pc
94 56 pc
Tonight's Sky: Spiral galaxy known as M51 is
just below the star that marks the Big Dipper's
handle.
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
Tomorrow’s Tides
Astoria / Port Docks
Time
High
4:42 a.m. 8.2 ft.
5:24 p.m. 8.6 ft.
Time
11:03 a.m.
11:44 p.m.
Low
-0.6 ft.
0.4 ft.
Tomorrow’s National Weather
Tues.
Hi Lo W
95 75 s
87 68 c
83 62 pc
89 57 t
82 68 pc
81 59 pc
99 75 s
78 58 pc
90 78 pc
84 64 pc
84 67 t
106 80 s
86 65 pc
98 78 pc
90 78 pc
95 73 pc
91 77 pc
90 71 pc
92 72 t
90 70 pc
88 73 t
90 68 pc
72 60 pc
79 59 pc
92 73 pc
Fronts
Cold
Warm
Stationary
Showers
T-Storms
Rain
Flurries
Snow
Ice
-10s
-0s
0s
10s
20s
30s
40s
50s
60s
70s
80s
90s
100s
110s
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands
are highs for the day. Forecast high/low temperatures are given for selected cities.
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms,
r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice.
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A lower assumed rate of re-
turn on investments will result
in higher future contributions by
state and local governments to
Oregon’s public-pension system
and slightly smaller payments to
workers hired before 1996 who
retire after Dec. 1.
The decision Friday by the
Public Employees Retirement
System board also starts the
process by its actuarial ¿ rm to
calculate what those employer
contribution rates will be in the
2017-19 budget cycle. Prelimi-
nary numbers, known as “advi-
sory rates,” will be released later
this year. The PERS board will
approve the actual rates in fall
2016.
Several factors are involved
in the calculations, but the as-
sumed rate of return is key.
The board settled on an as-
sumed rate of return of 7.5 per-
cent, down a notch from the 7.75
percent rate of the past two years.
For the 24 years before then, the
rate was 8 percent. Oregon has
had an assumed rate since the
1970s, when it began investing in
what is now a retirement fund of
almost $71 billion as of June .
Court ruling
inÀ uHnFHV rDtHV
Government employers al-
ready face higher contribution
rates as a result of an April de-
cision by the Oregon Supreme
Court, which ruled that law-
makers could not pare cost-of-
living increases to retirees retro-
actively. The Legislature did so
in 2013 as part of an attempt to
reduce the system’s future liabil-
ity over the next 20 to 30 years.
Milliman, the Seattle actu-
OREGON
Sunday’s Pick 4:
1 p.m.: 5-9-1-2
4 p.m.: 1-9-4-2
7 p.m.: 2-9-8-2
10 p.m.: 4-2-6-2
Saturday’s Megabucks: 4-13-29-
35-38-48
Estimated jackpot: $5.4 million.
Saturday’s Powerball: 7-13-24-49-
57, Powerball: 15
Estimated jackpot: $110 million.
Saturday’s Pick 4:
1 p.m.: 8-3-8-4
4 p.m.: 8-0-9-3
1006 West Marine Drive, Astoria
(503) 468-0116
www.klempfamilydentistry.com
arial ¿ rm contracted by PERS,
projects the average rate in-
crease for school districts at
5.3 percentage points of total
payroll for workers hired before
August 2003; for all other gov-
ernments, 3.8 percentage points,
and for coverage of the post-Au-
gust 2003 workers, one-ten th of
a percentage point.
The projected increases will
apply in the next budget cycle.
Rates for the current two-year
cycle, which began in July ,
were set in fall 2014 before the
Supreme Court heard legal chal-
lenges to the 2013 changes.
With the approval of a low-
er assumed rate of return, the
PERS board is likely to “collar”
contribution rates so that overall
increases are spread over sever-
al budget cycles, instead of all at
once.
,nYHVtPHnt HDrningV
FontriEutionV
7.75 percent to 7.5 percent in
2012.
According to a recent survey
by the National Association of
State Retirement Administrators,
about a third of the 126 statewide
retirement systems it surveyed
still retain an 8 percent rate. But
since the ¿ nancial-markets crash
in 2008, the mean has dropped
to 7.68 percent, and the median
— the point at which half the sys-
tems are above and half below —
is equal to Oregon’s former rate
at 7.75 percent.
The assumed rate also is used
to credit annual earnings of pub-
lic employees hired before Jan. 1,
1996, otherwise known as Tier 1.
If employees in that group retire
by Dec. 1 of this year, the 7.75
percent rate will still apply. Those
who retire afterward will be sub-
ject to the 7.5 percent rate, which
takes effect on Jan. 1.
µ-uVt not rigKt¶
About 73 cents of every dol-
lar Oregon pays out in public
pensions comes from invest-
ment earnings. Most of the rest
comes from contributions by
the 925 employer members of
PERS, which covers about 95
percent of Oregon’s public em-
ployees.
There are roughly 130,000
retirees.
The change in the assumed
rate was not unexpected, al-
though the board chose the high-
est of three scenarios.
Milliman had projected
scenarios of 6.99 percent, 7.32
percent and 7.45 percent. Mil-
liman’s was the lowest; Callan,
the San Francisco ¿ rm that ad-
vises the Oregon Investment
Council, was the highest.
California’s pension system
reduced its assumed rate from
Under an example offered by
the PERS staff, someone who re-
tires on March 1, 2016 — after
the lower rate takes effect — will
earn the same pension bene¿ t
as someone who retires by Dec.
1 of this year. Before Friday’s
meeting, two employees ¿ led
comments urging the board not
to change the current rate.
“Having to work six extra
months just to get to where you
would have been before is just
not right,” said Tammy Noeske
of Salem.
“Oregonians who work in
government are weary of all the
recent changes that keep mov-
ing the goal line for retirement,”
said Doug Crumme of Corvallis.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO Me-
dia Group and Pamplin Media
Group.
7 p.m.: 1-9-6-3
10 p.m.: 1-6-9-3
Friday’s Pick 4:
1 p.m.: 5-3-1-3
4 p.m.: 4-8-8-7
7 p.m.: 7-5-8-7
10 p.m.: 9-3-5-4
WASHINGTON
Sunday’s Daily Game: 9-9-9
Sunday’s Keno: 07-08-09-25-30-
35-37-41-42-46-49-51-53-61-64-68-
70-71-73-76
Sunday’s Match 4: 14-18-19-23
Saturday’s Daily Game: 5-3-8
Saturday’s Hit 5: 06-18-26-29-32
Estimated jackpot: $100,000
Saturday’s Keno: 08-12-18-23-25-
28-34-36-49-52-57-60-64-66-71-72-
73-74-75-76
Saturday’s Lotto: 03-12-19-22-44-
48
Estimated jackpot: $1.6 million
Saturday’s Match 4: 01-13-17-20
Friday’s Daily Game: 1-0-1
Friday’s Keno: 06-08-21-22-26-27-
28-29-37-41-43-44-45-47-50-53-59-
72-76-78
Friday’s Match 4: 01-06-20-24
Friday’s Mega Millions: 8-32-33-
40-46, Mega Ball: 10
6 p.m., 34583 U.S. Highway
101 Business.
tDry 6HZHr DiVtriFt BoDrG
6 p.m., 34583 U.S. Highway
101 Business.
6HDViGH PlDnning CoP
PiVVion 7 p.m., City Hall
Council Chambers, 989
Broadway, Seaside.
CDnnon BHDFK City
CounFil 6 p.m., City Hall,
163 E. Gower St., Cannon
Beach.
PuEliF PHHtingV
MONDAY
AVtoriD City CounFil
5:30 p.m., work session, 7
p.m., regular meeting, City
Hall, 1095 Duane St.
.nDSSD 6FKool BoDrG
5:30 p.m., work session,
Knappa High School library,
41535 Old U.S. Highway 30.
YoungV RiYHr /HZiV
ClDrN WDtHr DiVtriFt BoDrG
The Daily Astorian
Published daily, except Saturday and Sunday,
by EO Media Group, 949 Exchange St., PO
Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Telephone 503-
325-3211, 800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The
Daily Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103-
0210
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MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KLEMP F A MILY D ENTISTRY
AGGitionDl FKorHV
Ali Ryan, a spokeswoman
for the agency, wrote in an email
that the agency has not yet set a
timeline for the project, but em-
ployees must present the results
to interim legislative commit-
tees by Sept. 15, 2016.
State Sen. Bill Hansell,
R-Athena, said he was initially
concerned whether the Depart-
ment of Geology and Mineral
Industries could handle the
project because as a member
of the Joint Committee On
Ways and Means Sub-Com-
mittee On Natural Resources,
he heard about “the various
challenges they had budget
wise, different shortfalls they
were having, and the expendi-
ture out of accounts that — as
it turns out — they had to be
repaid.”
The agency had to get help
from accounting employees at
other state agencies to straighten
out its ¿ nances earlier this year.
When those employees discov-
ered a revenue shortfall, the
geology department asked for
and received $800,000 from the
state Legislature to pay its bills
through June .
“On the one hand we’re cut-
ting back, we’re trying to make
it more ef¿ cient,” Hansell said
of the agency’s budget and staff.
“On the other hand, we’re giv-
ing them additional chores to do
and costing additional money to
do it.”
In the end, however, Hansell
decided to support House Bill
3089.
“I was assured by the depart-
ment and also by some of the
customers that would use this
that this project would actually
help them to become more ef-
¿ cient and help streamline their
expenditures in some ways they
would not without it,” Hansell
said.
This stor\ ¿ rst appeared
in the Oregon Capital Insider
newsletter. To subscribe, go to
oregoncapitalinsider.com.
/ottHriHV
Established July 1, 1873
(USPS 035-000)
The restorations look and
feel natural, which will
give you the confidence to
SHOW YOUR SMILE.
a lot of money to go into the
¿ eld and conduct in-depth stud-
ies, but for the information we
do have we can dedicate some
staff time to make sure that’s as
organized as possible for people
to use and access,” Riggs said.
Lower returns mean higher PERS contributions
By PETER WONG
Capital Bureau
Oregon Weather
Shown is
tomorrow’s
weather.
Temperatures
are tonight’s
lows and
tomorrow’s
highs
Riggs said the state created the
department in the 1930s to put
people to work, so House Bill
3089 ties into the agency’s orig-
inal mission.
“There’s gold mines all over
Southern Oregon that operat-
ed up to World War II,” Riggs
said. “I would assume there’s
still gold in those mines ... They
were shut down because of the
war.”
The agency has an extensive
collection of paper records on
mineral deposits around Ore-
gon, from talc and industrial
metals to precious metals, but
Riggs — who started working
for the agency in February —
said he did not know what por-
tion of those have been posted
online. By moving more of the
records to the agency’s website,
“we can have a single point for
people to access, it will make it a
lot easier for them,” Riggs said.
Lawmakers originally want-
ed the d epartment to complete a
full survey with ¿ eld work, but
it would have cost more than the
Legislature was willing to pay
this year, Riggs said.
“Unfortunately $25,000 isn’t
The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to
the use for republication of all the local news
printed in this newspaper.
T8E6DAY
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