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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 2017)
OPINION 6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2017 Founded in 1873 DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager OUR VIEW We need to preserve services for our seniors T here aren’t many options for local people in need of skilled convalescent care for themselves or loved ones. For many years, Clatsop Care Center was widely regarded in the region as not just a good option, but one in which the community could take pride and comfort. Its fall from that position is something that should concern us all and spur serious action. On the lengthy list of looming disasters Americans worry about — everything from asteroid collisions to Yellowstone blowing up — a realistic one we usually ignore is the quickly accelerating avalanche of elder issues confronting the nation as the Baby Boom generation transitions into retirement. This age cohort of more than 75 million people will require vastly more in the way of services than are currently available. Particularly in relatively rural areas like ours, residents already confront difficult choices. An accident or ailment can hit individuals and their children with an immediate dilemma of how and where to recover, how to pay for it and what to do next. On a broader societal level, we have to wrestle with the best ways to nurture our most experienced citizens, both as a matter of simple decency and because lack of adequate provi- sion for senior care can be economically crippling. It is a sad occasion when long-term res- idents feel compelled to relo- We need to cate because they perceive a be thinking need to seek out better care in their final years. of ways to Clatsop County can count incubate itself as extremely fortunate additional to have the health care sys- tem we do, led by Columbia services Memorial Hospital and its col- for senior laboration with Oregon Health citizens, not & Science University, and by Providence Seaside Hospital losing any and its networking with the of those we larger Providence system. Our Friday story, “Bringing now possess. Clatsop Care Center back from Citizens need the brink,” found a starkly dif- to sit up and ferent situation with regard to get involved convalescent care. A dwindling in this. number of patients — from more than 70 to 24 or fewer — is a warning sign we can’t ignore. Have efforts to control financial deficits hurt the standard of care, leading potential patients to seek any option they can find? Is maintaining an aging building, in light of exter- nal factors such as cuts to Medicare and Medicaid reimburse- ments, simply more than Astoria and surrounding commu- nities can afford? Is it ever going to be possible to maintain staffing levels and retain well-qualified personnel in a county with few people looking for work? Clatsop Care’s problems aren’t unique: These issues and others encapsulate elder-care conundrums nationwide. Unlike many places, however, we are in a position to make a real difference in how this downward spiral ends. Clearly, board members of Clatsop Care Health District need active community engagement in helping craft a workable path back to health for this vital service. Planned steps like selling the building and farming out management functions would bene- fit from fresh eyes. Columbia Memorial’s smart model of strategic indepen- dence coupled with strong outside partnerships is one that Clatsop Care — and indeed every small-town institution — should study. Creative and community-focused leadership can find a path forward. We need to be thinking of ways to incubate additional ser- vices for senior citizens, not losing any of those we now pos- sess. Citizens need to sit up and get involved in this. Any one of us — or our parents or spouses — could desperately need Clatsop Care tomorrow. GUEST COLUMN Our wounded warriors deserve better tax break Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Michael Murphy, a veteran who served in the U.S. Army, leaves the Disabled American Veterans van at his dropoff point in St. Helens last year. By STEPHEN BATES Special to The Daily Astorian F or almost 100 years, Oregon has honored its wounded warriors, our disabled veterans with a property tax exemption. At one time, research shows, this exemp- tion was over 100% of the value of a median single family dwelling in Oregon. This is fitting, as our wounded warriors have given a portion of their body; a part of their being in the service of our country. But, this exemption has been reduced to less than 10% of the value of a median priced single family home. This is an unfortunate result of not reviewing old laws and updating them to meet current needs. The original Oregon law that authorizes this property tax exemp- tion references Civil War dis- abled veterans and their surviv- ing spouses. This demonstrates our state’s long-standing commitment to our disabled veterans. This law has been modified only a few times since 1953. When real estate values started escalating in the late 1970s, the dis- abled veterans property tax exemp- tion started to dwindle. The exemp- tion amounts remained the same, while the assessed valuation of prop- erties grew. The amount of exemp- tion became less and less. The stat- ute controlling the amount of the disabled veteran property tax exemp- tion was not updated during the time that property values soared in the 1980s and 1990s. Over the past several years, there have been attempts to correct this sit- uation. But, it appears that politicians decided not to maintain a reason- able property tax exemption for our wounded warriors. They made a sacrifice for all of us. We must make sure they are appropriately honored. The 2005 Legislature did make some amends. A 3% annual increase was added to the disabled veterans property tax exemption. A disabled veteran inferred in a 2015 testimony that the 3% increase would not even buy a dinner for two. In other words, this is not enough. What was once 100% is now less than 10%. Do we still care about our dis- abled veterans? They made a sacri- fice for all of us. We must make sure they are appropriately honored. Because political sentiment iden- tifies that a 100% exemption would be too costly, Senate Bill 694 is a compromise. The end result of pass- ing this bill is that most disabled vet- erans qualifying for this exemption would receive a property tax exemp- tion closer to 25% of the value of a median priced home in Oregon. This bill also addresses the severely disabled veteran. It creates a new category that would allow an even greater property tax exemption if certain requirements are met. Sen- ate Bill 694 gives the local county commission the option to control the levels of this exemption. It will not be 100%. But 25% is better than 10%. This is a compro- mise that should be nonpartisan. Sen- ate Bill 694 is doing something. Pre- vious legislative sessions have come and gone and the politicians did nothing. Something is better than nothing. Let Oregon once again stand for our wounded warriors. Let us increase the Disabled Veteran Prop- erty Tax Exemption this year. Let us work with our state legislators to pass Senate Bill 694. Stephen Bates, a retired business- man, is a 40 year resident of Bor- ing. He served as the chairman of the Boring Community Planning Organization and is currently chair- man of the Committee on Memori- als and Remembrance, an organiza- tion that addresses various issues for veterans. LETTERS WELCOME Letters should be exclusive to The Daily Astorian. We do not publish open letters or third-party letters. Letters should be fewer than 350 words and must include the writer’s name, address and phone numbers. You will be contacted to confirm authorship. All letters are subject to editing for space, grammar and, on occa- sion, factual accuracy and verbal verification of authorship. Only two letters per writer are printed each month. Letters written in response to other letter writers should address the issue at hand and, rather than mentioning the writer by name, should refer to the headline and date the letter was published. Dis- course should be civil and people should be referred to in a respectful manner. Letters referring to news stories should also mention the headline and date of publication. The Daily Astorian welcomes short “in gratitude” notes from readers for publication. They should keep to a 200-word maxi- mum and writers are asked to avoid simply listing event sponsors. They must be signed, include the writ- er’s address, phone number and are subject to condensation and editing for style, grammar, etc. Submissions may be sent in any of these ways: E-mail to editor@dailyastorian. com; Online form at www.dailyasto- rian.com; Delivered to the Astorian offices at 949 Exchange St. and 1555 N. Roosevelt in Seaside. Or by mail to Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103
