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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2017
Water, sewer and recycling
rates headed up in Warrenton
Hikes to cover
maintenance and
operations costs
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — War-
renton plans to increase water,
sewer and recycling rates in the
new fiscal year, explaining that
the increases are necessary to
fund regular maintenance and
operations costs and related
projects into the future.
Overall, the increases will
add approximately $5.68 to the
base rate of a city customer’s
bill starting in July, or roughly
$1.83 to water, $2.64 to sewer,
53 cents to storm sewer and
16 cents to recycling costs,
according to April Clark, the
city’s finance director.
The City Commission held
a first reading of the proposed
resolution Tuesday night. A
second reading and approval
of the resolution will occur at
the commission’s next meet-
ing June 27. This gives resi-
dents a chance to share their
thoughts and opinions on the
increases, said City Manager
Linda Engbretson.
The city’s budget committee
proposed a 7 percent increase to
water rates, which is expected
to raise about $182,000 in the
water fund by the end of the
fiscal year in June 2018. Sewer
rates are going up by 5 percent,
a move that is expected to raise
around $102,200 in the sewer
fund over the fiscal year.
The city’s water system is
large and provides water not
only to Warrenton residents
but also to Surf Pines, Clat-
sop Plains and Cullaby Lake as
well as some water to Gearhart.
Bills will vary from customer
to customer based on usage.
Customers outside the city’s
College projects
enrollment increase
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Clatsop Community
College Board on Tuesday
adopted a nearly $11.6 million
operating budget for the com-
ing school year.
“We are very pleased to
present a proposed budget
which includes investment in
academic, student services and
operations due to the improv-
ing fiscal outlook and efforts
made by all faculty and staff
working to increase student
enrollment,” JoAnn Zahn,
the college’s vice president of
finance and operations, said in
her budget message.
The college projects an 8
percent increase in enrollment,
from an estimated equivalent
of 1,290 students this year to
1,393 next year. The increase
is expected from expanded
welding, English as a Second
Language and maritime sci-
ence programs, for which the
college has increased staffing,
along with additional activities
in the redeveloped Patriot Hall.
Tuition and fee revenue,
which represents about one-
third of the college’s operating
resources, is projected at $3.5
million in the coming year.
Property taxes are projected at
$4.5 million.
The third leg of the col-
lege’s funding scheme is pred-
icated on the state Legislature
giving community colleges
$550 million in the 2017-19
biennium, of which the college
would receive 0.88 percent, or
$2.3 million. The college also
projects $450,000 in timber
tax revenue above what is ear-
marked to pay off debt.
limits already pay a slightly
higher base fee.
The city increased water
and sewer rates in 2015 and
again this fiscal year. City
Commissioner Rick Newton
said it’s important to recognize
that the commission is “playing
catch-up.” The city had long
tried to avoid unpopular rate
hikes, despite being advised
over the years to increase the
rates. Another study completed
last year repeated this advice.
On Tuesday, the commis-
sion voted to unanimously
approve increased rates at the
Warrenton Community Center
located downtown next to the
city park.
Rental rates there have not
been increased since July 2014.
At a budget committee
meeting in May, the community
center’s advisory board recom-
mended a 10 percent increase,
raising hourly rates for rental of
the center’s meeting room only,
ll
Ca ime
yt
n
A
the meeting room with kitchen
access included, and the “all
day” rates.
Budget Committee Chair-
man Paul Mitchell had said he
thought the city could go even
higher with some of these rates,
pointing out what other groups
charge for meeting space. But
city staff worried about dis-
couraging regular users.
On Tuesday, the commis-
sion considered a compro-
mise of sorts: a 12.5 percent
increase to the “meeting room
with kitchen” rental rate and a
16.7 percent increase for the
“meeting room only” rate, with
all-day rates adjusted accord-
ingly. The community center’s
advisory board supported this
recommendation.
This resolution takes the
“all day” rates up from $241
and $359 to $281 and $404,
depending on whether or not a
group plans to use the kitchen
facilities.
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By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Clatsop Community
College Board voted unan-
imously Tuesday to send a
proposed tobacco-free policy
back to the drawing board
because of loopholes allow-
ing people to smoke in cars
and on the fringes of campus.
The policy stated that
all college properties would
be tobacco-free by the start
of the fall academic term.
But the policy would have
allowed smoking in private
vehicles on campus and in
designated “good neighbor
zones” around the exterior
of college properties.
Board Member Tessa
Scheller said the loopholes
made the proposal dead on
arrival from her perspective.
“This is the No. 1 killer,”
Scheller said of tobacco,
which the Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention
reports is the leading cause of
preventable death in the U.S.
“There’s no reason to facili-
tate smoking that I can see.”
College President Chris-
topher Breitmeyer said the
policy was developed while
keeping the impact of previ-
ous efforts in mind and that
such good neighbor zones
were common at other tobac-
co-free campuses.
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Lawmakers
advance
health care
provider tax
Q: Should I use heat
or cold?
you hurt,especially in
A: If a joint,
use ice; it reduces
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — The Legisla-
ture’s budget-writing commit-
tee on Tuesday advanced a bill
over Republican objections
that would increase the state’s
tax on health care providers to
cover the costs of expanding
Medicaid.
The Joint Committee on
Ways and Means also advanced
Tuesday a $19.9 billion budget
for the Oregon Health Author-
ity for the next two years,
including $2.2 billion from the
state’s general fund.
Both bills now go to the
floor of the state House of
Representatives.
The increased tax would
raise revenue from hospitals,
insurers and coordinated care
organizations — the regional
networks of providers serv-
ing patients on the Oregon
Health Plan, Oregon’s version
of Medicaid — to help cover
the costs of the government’s
health care plan for the poor
and other qualifying groups.
The bill is expected to raise
$673 million in the next two
years to fund Medicaid and to
help fund reinsurance, a reim-
bursement system that protects
insurers from high claims.
Currently, certain urban
hospitals are assessed a 5.3
percent provider tax that is set
to expire in 2019. The legisla-
tion would extend the assess-
ment to 2021 and increase it to
6 percent for those hospitals,
and establish a new 4 percent
tax on net revenues of rural
hospitals.
Some Republicans criti-
cized the proposal, contending
the costs of care were likely to
be shifted to consumers.
Loopholes delay
a ‘tobacco-free’
campus policy
inflammation and pain and
shortens healing time. You can get
a burn from ice just like with heat,
so don’t leave it on for more than
20 minutes. Most problems get
better more quickly with ice. Heat
feels good, but may seriously
make problems worse. As long
as there is pain and/or swelling,
continue ice; it can be done as
often as once an hour. Would you
heat a cut? No, because it would
keep bleeding —that is what
happens inside where you can’t
see it.
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