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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2016
Business leaders offer tax hike support for pension reform
Governor
challenged
leaders to bring
her proposals
‘If we don’t address PERS,
any new taxes will not
be invested in helping
more kids graduate
from high school.’
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
PORTLAND — Embold-
ened by victory in defeating a
corporate sales tax measure in
November, business leaders at
the Oregon Leadership Sum-
mit Monday offered state pol-
icymakers and public unions
a bargain: They will support
new taxes if lawmakers find
ways to reduce the state’s pen-
sion costs.
“We all want to invest more
in those programs and ser-
vices that will produce out-
comes for Oregonians, but in
order to do that we have to be
able to demonstrate to taxpay-
ers that the dollars will, in fact,
be invested in ways that will
drive meaningful outcomes,”
said Patrick Criteser, president
and chief executive officer of
the Tillamook County Cream-
ery Association.
State budget writers face a
$1.7 billion shortfall. In lieu
of new revenue, they are fore-
casting cuts across state gov-
ernment, from higher educa-
tion to human services.
Patrick Criteser
Jon House/Pamplin Media Group
Gov. Kate Brown waves to the crowd at the Oregon Lead-
ership Summit on Monday in Portland.
The increase in costs stem
largely from scaled-back fed-
eral funding for health care
subsidies under the Affordable
Care Act, increasing caseloads
for people with disabilities
and higher costs to cover the
nearly $22 billion unfunded
liability in the Public Employ-
ees Retirement System.
The corporate sales tax,
devised by a public employee
union-backed group and con-
tained in Measure 97, would
have raised an additional $3
billion per year, eliminating
next year’s revenue shortfall.
Voters rejected the tax mea-
sure after a bitter and costly
battle between opponents from
the business community and
the union-backed coalition, A
Better Oregon.
The state’s relatively gen-
erous pension plan for pub-
lic employees has long been
a sticking point for business
leaders.
“If we don’t address PERS,
any new taxes will not be
invested in helping more kids
graduate from high school,”
Criteser said. “It will be invested
in paying existing obligations,
and skepticism about the value
of government will grow rather
than diminish.”
Two options for reform
Oregon Supreme Court
rulings have restricted law-
makers to two options for
pension reform, said Tim Nes-
bitt, former adviser to Govs.
Ted Kulongoski and John
Kitzhaber and past president
of the Oregon AFL-CIO.
“We can reduce benefits
yet to be earned by current and
future employees, or we can
Lawsuit filed over fatal 2015 mudslide
Associated Press
EUGENE — Two sons of
an Oregon woman killed when
a mudslide plowed through her
home last winter are seeking
nearly $10 million in a lawsuit
filed against a couple and a util-
ity district.
Delores Miller, 70, died last
December after part of a pri-
vate road on her neighbor’s
property north of Florence col-
lapsed, causing debris to flow
into her home during a rain-
storm along the Oregon Coast,
according to the lawsuit filed in
Lane County last week by her
sons, Stephen Miller and Keith
Eldien.
president and chief executive officer of the
Tillamook County Creamery Association
The men assert the Heceta
Water People’s Utility District
failed to properly maintain a
water line that runs beneath
the road. The improper main-
tenance resulted in leakage that
contributed to hazardous condi-
tions, according to the lawsuit.
Moreover, the plaintiffs
allege the neighbors, William
and Gail Munzer, failed to
install, maintain or repair drain-
age ditches, or take other steps
to prevent landslide dangers on
that section of property.
The Register-Guard reported
the couple and the water district
have yet to file a response to the
lawsuit. Gail Munzer declined
comment when reached by tele-
phone by the newspaper and the
water district did not return a
phone message.
According to minutes from
an emergency water district
board meeting held five days
after the slide, district officials
acknowledged that the water
line was compromised in the
incident and that a leak existed
somewhere above the slide area.
Delores Miller’s husband,
Gary Miller, suffered minor
injuries. He escaped the home
with one of the couple’s two
dogs. Firefighters recovered the
body of the other dog.
The lawsuit says the home
near Mercer Lake sustained
“catastrophic physical damage.”
specific proposals they would
support for raising taxes on
business. One example of a
possible revenue source is a
proposal from early this year
by state Sen. Mark Hass,
D-Beaverton, to levy a small
commercial activity tax on
corporations, Criteser said.
Hass said last week that he
is running numbers on how
much revenue could be raised
from the tax. His proposal last
year would have raised about
$500 million.
Gov. Kate Brown, who
gave the keynote speech at the
summit, challenged business
leaders to bring her revenue
proposals they can support.
“You might think that that
puts a tremendous burden on
me as your governor to find
another way to fund Oregon’s
future,” Brown said, referring
to Measure 97’s defeat. “But
ask employees to pay at least
some of the cost of their future
pensions,” Nesbitt said.
“These options demand a
shared responsibility among
all stakeholders.”
Several
members
of
SEIU Local 503 and Oregon
AFSCME gathered outside the
leadership summit at the Ore-
gon Convention Center Mon-
day to highlight how PERS
benefits public employees.
“Many of us are working
for less than we would in the
private sector,” a pamphlet
from the unions states. “We
agreed to that with the under-
standing that we would have
secure retirement. Now we are
facing further retirement cuts.
That breaks the promise made
to us.”
No specific proposals
Business leaders gave no
I’m here today to state that the
price of victory is responsi-
bility — both for me and for
you.”
Brown and House Speaker
Tina Kotek, D-Portland, both
endorsed Measure 97 during
the campaign.
At last year’s leader-
ship summit, Senate Presi-
dent Peter Courtney, D-Sa-
lem, urged lawmakers, unions
and business to reach a com-
promise on Measure 97 before
the election. On Monday,
he continued his message of
collaboration.
“A state whose politi-
cal and economic forces are
always at odds will never be
all that it can be,” Courtney
said.
The leadership summit
marks the Oregon Business
Council’s release of its annual
Oregon Business Plan. The
plan makes recommendations
for statewide policy on issues
that affect business, including
taxes, state spending, labor
regulations and educational
outcomes. In the past, the
summit has focused on a vari-
ety of issues. This year, how-
ever, the agenda was “laser-fo-
cused on the state’s long-term
fiscal future,” Criteser said.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
City Council approves increases
for public works fees in 2017
The Daily Astorian
Fees for several services
at the Astoria Public Works
Department are going up in
January.
The Astoria City Coun-
cil voted 4-0 Monday night
to update the charges. The
fees for the applications and
permits have not been raised
since 2005.
For example, the applica-
tion to purchase city property
will increase to $450, up from
$125. The cost for a license to
occupy will jump to $425, up
from $125.
Custom mapping will cost
$45 an hour, up from $25 an
hour.
The fee increases take
effect Jan. 6. The full fee
schedule will be available at
http://www.astoria.or.us
In other business Monday
night, the City Council:
• Approved spending an
additional $24,100 to com-
plete the cleanup of contam-
inated soil at Heritage Square.
The total project has cost
$587,334, with most of the
money coming from fed-
eral and state grants. The city
has contributed $105,334 in
urban renewal funds.
• Agreed to offer one
month of free services to new
customers who sign up for
an automated membership or
pay for a year’s membership
to the Astoria Aquatic Cen-
ter or the Astoria Recreation
Center.
The incentive will be
for customers who sign up
between Dec. 15 and Jan. 15.
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