10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2016
PERS: Astoria has
taken a conservative
approach to challenge
Continued from Page 1A
Higher rates
The higher rates are inlu-
enced by several factors.
The state Supreme Court
last year struck down reforms
approved by the Legislature
in 2013 to help contain pub-
lic worker retirement costs.
The court ruled that cost-of-
living adjustments workers
had earned before the reform
law went into effect are a con-
tractual right that could not be
taken away.
Another factor is that the
pension system’s investment
earnings have fallen short
of the 7.75 percent assumed
annual rate of return.
“We all should be will-
ing to consider creative and
responsible ideas that are
likely to withstand legal
challenge and would help
us reduce and manage this
unfunded liability,” Gov. Kate
Brown said in a statement.
“Paying it down won’t be
easy, but I will continue to
work with the PERS Board,
(Oregon Investment Coun-
cil), as well as the Legislature
to fund a fair, responsible, and
affordable retirement system
for our teachers, ireighters,
law enforcement, and other
critical service providers, and
for taxpayers and employers
throughout Oregon.”
Here is an overview of
how the higher rates might
play out in Clatsop County:
Astoria
The city has taken a con-
servative approach to the pen-
sion challenge, budgeting as
if the lower employer con-
tribution rates promised by
pension reform would fail to
materialize. So the city was
not as vulnerable when the
Supreme Court struck the
reforms down.
The City Council also left
some cushion in the city’s
$37.7 million budget in antic-
ipation that contribution rates
would rise. Based on wages
for city workers last spring,
the city projected an esti-
mated $150,000 impact to the
general fund, a calculation
that might have to be revised
upward now that the actual
rates have been posted.
For the city’s longest-serv-
ing workers, the contribution
rate will increase from 20.27
percent to 24.66 percent. For
workers hired after August
2003, the rate will rise from
13.07 percent to 15.79 percent.
And for police and ireighters,
the rate will climb from 17.18
percent to 20.56 percent.
“I think we’ll manage
through it,” Susan Brooks, the
city’s inance director, said.
“But, obviously, the continu-
ing rise of PERS rates is con-
cerning for the long haul.”
The city’s budget commit-
tee and City Council will have
to deal with the higher contri-
bution rates next spring when
drafting the budget for the
next iscal year, which begins
in July.
While the city can likely
absorb the higher rates ini-
tially, if similar rate hikes fol-
low over several years, the
impact could force trade-offs
in public services or higher
fees on taxpayers.
“Obviously, if the trend
continues at that rate, what it
means is prioritizing how we
are going to spend the money
coming in,” Brooks said.
— Derrick DePledge
Warrenton
In Warrenton, the con-
tribution rate for the oldest
workers will spike from 17.56
to 22.49 percent. The rate for
workers hired after 2003 will
increase from 10.36 to 13.42
percent, and the rate for police
and ire will rise from 14.47 to
18.19 percent.
“We knew the increases
were coming, so it is not a
surprise,” Finance Director
April Clark said in an email.
“It will impact our budget,
and we will have to take that
into consideration when we
start putting together next
year’s budget and as we pre-
pare for upcoming union
negotiations.”
The city did not set aside
money for the rate increases,
she said.
This year’s $32.3 mil-
PERS
CATEGORIES
The Public Employees Re-
tirement System has dif-
ferent benefit components
for government workers
depending on when they
were hired. The govern-
ment contribution rate
toward pensions is higher
for the longest-serving
workers.
*Tier I: Workers hired
before January 1996
*Tier 2: Workers hired
between January 1996
and August 2003
*Oregon Public Service
Retirement Plan: Workers
hired after August 2003
lion budget includes about
$677,000 in retirement costs.
— Erick Bengel
Moore: 4,000 Elvis records are in his collection
Continued from Page 1A
“That’s why I have to work
— to pay rent on stuff I don’t
have here yet,” he said. “My
goal is to sell just as many of
these records as I can.”
Should one be inclined to
ask, what are some of the trea-
sures to be found in this multi-
level LP spaceship?
“I’ve got the Beatles’ ‘Yes-
terday and Today’ — a mint
one is $35,000,” he said. “Not
here, it rains in this building.
The one I’ve got is about $700
or $800. The grandchildren are
going to have to be very hun-
gry irst.”
“I got a hug from a little old
lady because I had Serendip-
ity Singers,” he said. “You’re
not going to go to the store to
buy Serendipity Singers on
anything.”
If we asked you for “The
Eggplant that Ate Chicago”
would you have it?
“I could produce that too,”
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
Richard Moore sheds his inner Elvis and offers LPs, tapes
and household items at his Gearhart warehouse.
Moore said. “You have to
tickle everybody.”
It’s not just LPs in the
enterprise, described on one of
his creatively designed sales
cards as “Collectable Recy-
cled Antique Products,” a
rubric that includes golf club
hats, electronics, shoes, picture
frames and kitchen electronics.
“I’ve got many thousands
of eight-tracks,” Moore said.
“Most of them are anything
you want to give me. The
only time I sell a big bunch is
when somebody’s got a vin-
tage car they’re going to keep
original.”
Moore owns about 4,000
Elvis records but, he admitted,
“They’re not really that valu-
able because there are umpteen
thousand of them out there.”
As for his audience, they’re
getting younger every day.
Five-year-olds ask for their
favorite Elvis tunes. “I sell
more Johnny Cash to the
16-year-olds than I do to the
old farts,” he added.
Moore will be hosting a
yard sale from Oct. 15-31 —
with a special guest, “the aya-
tollah of rock-and-rollah.”
— R.J. Marx
Clatsop County
Clatsop County commis-
sioners built an anticipated
pension increase into the
county’s budget.
For the county’s oldest
workers, the rate will increase
from 12.13 percent to 16.28
percent. The rate for work-
ers hired after 2003 rose from
4.95 percent to 7.59 percent.
The police and ire payroll
jumped from 9.06 percent to
12.36 percent.
“We had an increase built
into the budget,” County
Manager Cameron Moore
said. “(The rates) are little bit
more than we anticipated. We
have to take a detailed look at
how this may affect us, and it
may not.”
It is too early to say how
the increase will impact the
budget, Moore said. One
option to offset the costs is
to dip into some conditional
funds that are stored in the
budget.
The new rates are not any-
thing the county is alarmed
about, Moore said.
“We are in pretty good
shape inancially right now,”
he said. “The rates that we’ve
seen, we should be able to
accommodate.”
— Kyle Spurr
Schools
Local school districts fore-
casted for an increase in pen-
sion obligations. But school
administrators face an uncer-
tain future with pension costs
expected to continue rising
into the 2020s, and funding
levels for schools unsure.
Warrenton-Hammond,
Seaside, Knappa and Jew-
ell school districts all face 3
to 5 percent increases in pen-
sion obligations in the coming
biennium.
“We budgeted (a) 4.5 per-
cent increase, so it really
wasn’t a surprise,” said Mike
Moha, business manager for
the
Warrenton-Hammond
School District.
“Knowing it’s there and
not being surprised, that
lessens the hurt when it comes
up,” he said.
A bigger issue is what will
happen as employers’ pen-
sion obligations continue
increasing in subsequent bud-
get years. Knappa’s Business
Manager Nikki Fowler said
rates are expected to keep
going up through 2023.
Warrenton-Hammond,
Seaside and Astoria all took
out bonds in the 2000s to
help cover future pension
obligations.
Astoria timed its bond-
ing right and ended up with
some of the most modest
employer contribution rates
of any agency. This bien-
nium, the district only had to
contribute about one-half of
a percent of employee pen-
sion costs. That increases next
biennium to 3.18 percent for
the longest-serving employ-
ees, while contributions for
more recent hires will go
down slightly to 0.43 percent.
But Astoria Superinten-
dent Craig Hoppes is still
hesitant to answer whether
his district can handle all the
increases. “It’s hard to say,
because I don’t know how
much money we’re going to
get from the state,” he said
of all the competing priori-
ties for limited dollars in the
state’s general fund.
— Edward Stratton
Pamplin Media Group
Bud Pierce talks during a debate with Gov. Kate Brown at the City Club of Portland. Laura Gunderson, of The Orego-
nian, served as moderator. This was the second of five debates between the two candidates. The next one is Thursday.
Debate: Third debate is this Thursday in Eugene
Continued from Page 1A
The candidates faced each
other at downtown Portland’s
Sentinel Hotel, where Brown
found a sympathetic audi-
ence in a standing-room-only
venue.
The debate was a role
reversal since the irst guber-
natorial debate Sept. 25 in
Bend, where Pierce draws
support from Eastern Ore-
gon’s more conservative
political climate.
This time, Pierce drew
boos from the Portland-based
crowd when he answered
questions about gun control,
violence against women and
equal pay.
poor women who don’t have
a place to turn.”
Measure 97
The debate also served
as a de facto mouthpiece for
another high-dollar campaign
raging in Oregon: The battle
over Measure 97, a corporate
sales tax proposal advanced
by a coalition of unions and
community groups. If passed,
the tax proposal would repre-
sent the largest tax increase
in the state’s history.
The measure, which pro-
poses taxing “C” corpora-
tions on Oregon sales exceed-
ing $25 million, is expected
to raise $3 billion a year.
Asked what the tax’s laws
were, Brown talked about
how important it is that voters
pass the measure, sidestep-
ping the question entirely.
“The most important thing
we can do is pass ballot Mea-
sure 97,” Brown said. “Ore-
gon needs adequate and sta-
ble revenue for keeping state
services like early child-
hood education, CTE (career
and technical education) and
STEAM (science, technol-
ogy, engineering and math),
and removing barriers for
children to attend universities
and community colleges.”
“There are no other viable
options,” she added.
Pierce said the measure is
a poor attempt at tax reform,
and he said he is concerned
the revenue will be used to
address the Public Employ-
ees Retirement system’s
$21 billion unfunded liabil-
ity, rather than reforming the
system.
“If Measure 97 passes,
we have to make sure that
we don’t simply pour lots
of money into an unfunded
PERS system so the money
is consumed by that, and we
don’t come back ive years
later with the same kind of
challenges,” Pierce said.
Friday was the second of
ive debates between the two
candidates. The third debate
is scheduled for Thursday in
Eugene.
Empowering women
Moderator Laura Gunder-
son of The Oregonian asked a
city club member’s question
about what the candidates
would do to improve the lot
of women. A report last week
by the Women’s Foundation
of Oregon found that Oregon
women are more likely to be
victims of sexual assault than
the national average and con-
tinue to be victims of domes-
tic violence.
Pierce said policies should
empower women with access
to education and good jobs.
“A woman that has great
education and training and a
great job is not susceptible to
this kind of abuse by men,”
Pierce said.
The comment drew a cre-
scendo of boos from the
crowd, and Brown turned and
covered her mouth in a dis-
play of shock.
“I’m honestly not sure
where to start,” Brown said
in her rebuttal.
“I grew up in a mid-
dle-class family. I went to
law school,” Brown said.
“I know what it feels like
to be paid less, substan-
tially less, than the male law-
yer in the ofice next to me.
This is not just about power.
It’s about making sure that
people aren’t discriminated
against because of their gen-
der, because of their race
and because of their sexual
orientation.”
Pierce later clariied that
he meant that women who are
well-educated and have more
resources are less likely to be
victims of domestic violence.
“Powerful women have
access to lawyers and
courts,” Pierce said. “Women
who are most vulnerable are
Coming October 2016
Assistance League
the Columbia Pacif of
ic
PROGRAM OVERV
IEW
Operation School
Bell:
OSB is the signature
program of Assistan
League; providing
new clothes for children ce
grades K-12. The
in need,
schools identify the
students and
we supply 2 pairs
of pants, 2 shirts,
sweatshirt, jacket,
underwear, socks
and shoes to each
child! Last year
we helped clothe
over 600 kids! Wish
you could see
their smiling faces!
Assistance Leagu
e of
the Columbia Pacifi
c
P.O. Box 596 Astoria,
Cinderella’s Closet:
Assistance League
of
over 280 fancy dresses! the Columbia Pacific owns
During Homecoming
Prom season we
and
set up a boutique
and the
school girls come
“shopping” for somethin high
to the ‘ball’. We hope
g to wear
to make them all
feel like
princesses!
Athletic Particip
ation Scholarships:
This program provides
funds for sports fees
appropriate gear;
and
giving students an
opportunity to
become involved
in sports. This in turn
allows
fostering friendsh
ips and building confiden children to receive all the benefits
of being part of a
ce. The goal is to
team,
promote the desire
to stay in school.
Duffle Bags:
The Duffle Bag Program
ensures that every
system is given a
Clatsop
County child being
duffle
placed into the Foster
toiletries. This offers bag filled with comfort items such
Care
as pjs, a blanket,
the child a bit of
a stuffed animal,
comfort in an uncertai
a book and
n time in their lives.
FUNDRAISING
• Direct Mail Campaig
n
SEPTEMBER: Look
in your mail
– You might have
a flyer waiting for
you.
• Home & Chef
Tour
OCTOBER: Showcasi
ng outstanding homes
County
& chefs througho
ut Clatsop
• Fabulous Fun
Night
MARCH 5, 2016,
Please join us for
a tremendous night
our local children.
as we celebrate
Save the Date & Look
for Details
• Golf Ball Drop
May 7, 2016: A Fun
Event
for all ages at Astoria
Golf & Country Club.
OR 97103
Mission Statem
ent:
Assistance League
of the
Columbia Pacific
is a non-profit
organization whose
volunteer
efforts raise funds
to assist children
in our Clatsop County
Communities.
Vision:
To be an effective
resource in
the community respondi
ng to
services, delivery
gaps and
emerging needs through
volunteer
efforts and collabora
tive
partnerships.
Values:
• Commitment
• Leadership
• Ethics
• Accountability
• Respect
CONTACT INFORM
ATION
President: Jane Cartwrigh
t
jjjkcart@msn.com
Membership: Shelby
Mogenson
shelbym@charter.ne
t
Web Site:
www.assistancelea
guecp.com
SPONSORED BY:
Autio Company
GIVING BACK 2015-16
• 5
We are proud to present the 2nd annual edition of
Giving Back
Giving Back is designed to give our community nonprofits and corporations that support them a
platform for exposing their mission and their fundraising needs to the business community.
Giving Back is a resource designed to offer companies and individuals a wealth of information to
assist them in their charitable giving plans.
We’ve dedicated a full page to each nonprofit detailing their mission statements, goals, service ar ea,
board members, events and giving/volunteering opportunities plus a full page to their sponsor.
Thank you to our generous business community for all
that you do to support our local nonprofit organizations
To reserve you r spa ce con ta ct:
Betty Sm ith
A dvertisin g Director
Lisa Ca don a u - A storia
503-325-3211 Ext. 238 • 503-791-7307 Cell
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Holly La rk in s
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P UBL ISH E S
OCTOBE R 3 1, 2016
In serted in the Da ily A storia n
D E AD L IN E :
OCTOBE R 14 , 2016
For Spa ce Reserva tion