7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 2017
Parks: Council expects to vote on the fee at June 19 meeting
Continued from Page 1A
suggestion, Price also pro-
posed adding a sunset clause
to the parks fee. After three
years, it would go away, she
told the rest of the council.
The parks fee would not be
charged to low-income res-
idents in the city’s utility-as-
sistance program, she said.
It would also not be charged
to businesses. Price said she
wanted to avoid charging
people twice; many small
business owners also live in
town.
The city is considering a
number of options to raise
money for the parks depart-
ment, but with these plans —
including a proposed increase
in the lodging tax — it would
be some time before the
money began to roll in.
The proposed parks fee is
a temporary solution, Price
said. She was looking for
something simple and rela-
tively inexpensive that would
allow staff to “address some
urgent issues right here in the
summertime.”
City Councilor Zetty Nem-
lowill disagreed, saying she
didn’t see how a water meter
fee matched up with parks.
She, Jones and Councilor
Tom Brownson had voted in
favor of garbage service fee
increases earlier Monday that
added curbside glass and yard
debris pickup. But that was a
fee, Nemlowill argued, that
added services.
“I just don’t think this is
the right way to raise money
for parks and rec,” she said
about the water meter fee.
Mayor Arline LaMear
said she would go along with
Price’s proposal so long as
no one on the utility-assis-
tance program was charged.
Cindy Price
She also asked that instead of
a three-year sunset period, the
fee would go away once the
city found another program to
raise money for parks.
City Attorney Blair Hen-
ningsgaard said the fee would
be reviewed annually, like
other fees the city imposes on
residents.
The City Council expects
to vote on whether or not to
implement the fee at its next
meeting on June 19. Nemlow-
ill remained the only coun-
cilor against the proposed $3
fee Monday night.
In other park-related
business:
• City councilors also
approved a 20 percent bulk-
buy discount to monthly
Aquatic Center and Recre-
ation Center and Land and
Water passes when sold in
a quantity of 20 or more per
transaction.
The discount provides an
incentive city staff believes
could “attract new customers,
increase revenue and support
organizations and businesses
(to) increase employees’
health, wellness and produc-
tivity,” according to a memo
from City Manager Estes.
Though she voted to
approve the discount, Nem-
lowill pointed out that the
council recently, after much
discussion and vocal reluc-
tance, voted to begin charging
a local youth swim club lane
use fees in an effort to raise
more revenue for the Aquatic
Center. The North Coast
Swim Club told councilors
young swimmers and their
families might not be able to
afford the $1 per lane per hour
fee.
The proposed discount,
Nemlowill said Monday,
could now allow the swim
club to save money on swim
passes, negating the hard-
ship caused by the lane fee
charges, as well as taking
away any revenue the depart-
ment expected to see from the
lane fee charges.
“I feel we put the swim
club through the wringer for
no reason,” Nemlowill said
after the meeting.
• The council accepted site
plans for McClure Park and
Shivley Park. Work on these
parks is unlikely to begin
anytime soon, said Parks and
Recreation Director Angela
Cosby. Improvements to
Shively Park are expected
to cost $1.6 million while
improvements to McClure are
estimated at around $640,000.
Cosby said the depart-
ment must wait until it is in a
more sustainable place before
it moves forward at Shively.
Some work is planned for
McClure, however. Friends of
McClure Park plans to install
a new slide.
The site plans give the
department a road map about
how to accept donations and
have conversations with peo-
ple interested in improving
the parks, Cosby said.
Dwight Caswell/For The Daily Astorian
The entrance arch was all that remained of the Weinhard Astoria Hotel after the 1922
downtown Astoria fire. The arch was relocated to Shively Park and still stands. The Asto-
ria City Council is looking at a $3 per meter water fee for residential users to help fund
the city’s parks department, which is cash-strapped and low-staffed.
Bills: Legislators consulted with unions in developing second proposal
the amount the state owes that
has already been accrued by
public employees and is esti-
mated to be at least $21 bil-
lion. Legally, the state can-
not reduce benefits employees
have already accrued.
Speaker of the House Tina
Kotek, D-Portland, said Mon-
day that the proposals repre-
sented a “serious attempt to do
cost containment.” Business
groups, such as the Brighter
Oregon coalition, have repeat-
edly called for reductions to
the cost of the public pen-
sion system and other costs
before they’ll get on board
with changes to the state’s tax
structure.
Continued from Page 1A
It’s estimated that, upon full
implementation, the measure
could save about $691 million
in the 2019-21 biennium.
Some provisions in the leg-
islation haven’t been quan-
tified, such as changing the
state’s debt collection and con-
tracting practices.
PERS
The second proposal, SB
1068, has to do with pub-
lic employee pension bene-
fits. The bill would require a
percentage of current public
employees’ annual contribu-
tions to an individual account
to go instead to a risk-sharing
account that can be used by the
Public Employee Retirement
System’s Board to pay benefits
accrued after July 1, 2018.
Legislators consulted with
unions in developing that
proposal.
According to the Senate
President’s Office, the non-
partisan Legislative Fiscal
Portland Tribune/File Photo
Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek said the proposals rep-
resent a “serious attempt to do cost containment.”
office says the PERS measure
could save employers — such
as school districts and coun-
ties — about $106.7 million
in the upcoming two-year bud-
get, and $434 million in the
2019-21 cycle, although that
includes all funds, not just the
general and lottery funds.
The risk-sharing account
could only address costs of the
system going forward, and not
the unfunded liability of the
system, which corresponds to
Business taxes
With about a month to
go before the Legislature
adjourns, unions and other
advocates are still jostling for
increased business taxes.
While lawmakers consider
switching from a corporate
income tax to a tax on gross
business sales, the Oregon
Education Association filed
a ballot measure Friday that
would create a gross receipts
tax on businesses with annual
sales of at least $5 million.
Another OEA proposed
measure would allow the Leg-
islature to raise business taxes
by simple majority vote if cer-
tain school funding levels
aren’t met.
Senate Minority Leader
Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, said
the PERS proposal unveiled
Monday was insufficient. He
argued for “robust restructur-
ing” of the system.
Earlier legislative propos-
als on PERS, such as one that
would have placed a $100,000
limit on the final average sal-
ary used in an employee’s
benefits calculation, appear
unlikely to move forward.
Rebecca Tweed, a coor-
dinator for Brighter Oregon,
said that both proposals rep-
resented a step in the right
direction, but were not enough
to right the state’s finances.
While calling the cost-sharing
provisions “important,” Tweed
said that the proposal “would
do little to slow the runaway
increases schools and state
agencies must pay into PERS.”
Meanwhile, Steve Demar-
est, president of SEIU 503,
was critical of the risk-shar-
ing proposal, and argued for
increased business taxes.
“While we can’t support
this plan, we are willing to
engage with the Legislature
around cost containment so
long as it is connected to real
revenue reform,” Demarest
said in a statement, “paid by
corporations, that allows Ore-
gon to invest in better schools,
greater access to healthcare,
and improved services for all
Oregonians.”
T HE D AILY A STORIAN
PRESENTS A
FREE CONCERT
2A/1A STATE CHAMPIONS
Show your support by putting a message to the state champs in
The Daily Astorian’s Special congratulation page.
Your 3-line message to
tbe Loggers championship
team and your business name
45
$
Deadline: June 8th
Runs: June 9th
in Daily Astorian
Contact Holly Larkins
503-325-3211 x 227
hlarkins@dailyastorian.com
234th Army Band
“Sea to Shining Sea”
An evening of patriotic music and a medley of Service Songs
The 234th A rm y Ba n d w ill be perform in g John W illia m s’ “The Cow boys O vertu re,”
“Shen a n doa h” by Fra n k Ticheli, a n d “Rha psody in Blu e” by George Gershw in .
7:00 p.m. Friday • June 30, 2017
AT THE LIBERTY THEATRE
To receive free tickets, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:
Arm y Ba n d Tick ets
c/o The Da ily A storia n
P.O. Box 210
A storia , OR 97103
Tick ets a re lim ited. Up to 4 tick ets per hou sehold. Tick ets a re a va ila ble u n til Ju n e 20, 2017