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2A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2018 Employers weighing benefits of pension liability payments By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau SALEM — It’s not yet clear how many of the state’s public employers will use a new state program meant to address the state’s public pen- sion debt. A little time, and a lot of math, stand between now and the answer. Oregon has an unfunded public pension liability of about $25.3 billion. Gov. Kate Brown has been seeking ways to pay down that debt, largely benefits already earned by retirees that can’t legally be altered. A bill requested by Brown and passed by lawmakers in the recently concluded legisla- tive session, Senate Bill 1566, established a special incen- tive fund. Qualifying pub- lic employers are to receive a match of 25 percent of a one- time, lump-sum payment they make toward their share of the $25.3 billion liability. The bill also created a separate School Districts Unfunded Liability Fund, which will distribute money to a new account to help school districts offset growing pension costs. Both are funded by one- time revenue sources expected to generate about $140 mil- lion — $25 million for the match and $115 million for the school fund. Rob Bovett, legal counsel for the Association of Oregon Counties, says many coun- ties are interested in the match program, though he has yet to hear of any that have decided whether to use it or not. Bovett says the 25 percent match makes a difference in the face of skyrocketing per- centage of payroll that pub- lic employers devote to the Public Employees Retirement System. “With six years of really dramatic employer rate increases, there is going to be a significant loss of public ser- vices, and this is a way to stem the tide,” Bovett said. It will also take some time for school districts to figure out whether the matching pro- gram will work for them, says Boozers will be required to stay off the beach at Sauvie Island this summer. Commissioners with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife have banned alco- holic beverages between May 1 and Sept. 30 in the Sauvie Island Wildlife Area. The ban takes effect this year, and is expected to be permanent. In 2017, police officers arrested at least 17 people for driving under the influence of intoxicants as they puttered away from some of Sauvie Island’s most popular beaches — including Collins, Walton, Willow Bar and North Unit. About one-third of all DUII arrests made in Columbia County between April 1 and Aug. 3 stemmed from tipsy visits to the island, according to a press release. “The last couple of years we’ve noticed a lot of issues … We’ve documented all evaluate whether making the contribution to the matching fund is worth the cost of the contribution, Green said. Green rattled off a list of potential needs that $25,000 could help pay for, especially in a small school district: a new part-time special educa- tion aide, career and techni- cal education programming, a new school bus or roof. “At each and every turn we need to do what will have a bigger impact on students,” Green said. Public employers will know more about whether the program suits them once PERS rates are set later this year, and more still in mid-2019, when the state’s next two-year bud- get will be finalized. And in the meantime, the PERS board still has to go through a rule-making process, which is expected to lay out more details, including how the spe- cial school districts liability fund is distributed among districts. While it’s a good initial step, Green says, tackling the debt in the long run is going to require a lot more than the roughly $140 million Senate Bill 1566 has laid out. “It’s a lot of money, but as I’ve said before, this problem has a lot more zeroes behind it,” Green said. The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. Lewis and Clark Bridge reopens after backpacks investigated Booze ban approved for Sauvie Island By ZANE SPARLING Pamplin Media Group Jim Green, executive director of the Oregon School Boards Association. For a small or medi- um-sized district, the program could help to temper those dra- matic rate increases from year to year — say, instead of leap- ing from 26 percent of payroll to 33 percent, they might go from 26 to 30 percent. “It’s not just pure math,” Green said. “It’s also, what could we do in our district if we had that money that goes to that PERS increase?” Under the new bill, public employers that want to get the matching funds would have to contribute a minimum of $25,000. That will mean that employers will also have to of that. And it’s got nothing but worse,” ODFW spokes- man Rick Swart recently told KOIN. Sauvie Island’s scenic sands lure up to 16,000 visitors a day during the peak season and more than 488,000 people total between May and Sep- tember, which effectively over- whelms local law enforcement. Oregon State Police troop- ers believe the ban will decrease the amount of crime as well as calls for emergency medical help. Associated Press LONGVIEW, Wash. — Authorities reopened a bridge between Longview, Washing- ton, and Rainier that had been shut down for hours because of suspicious backpacks on the Oregon side. Oregon State Police say that authorities responded at about 10:20 a.m. Monday to reports of a man lowering backpacks from the bridge over the Columbia River. Police say the Ore- gon State Patrol Bomb Unit deployed a robot which was used to X-ray the bags but the results were inconclusive. The team then used a high pres- sure water cannon mounted on the robot to reveal the con- tents. Police say the bags con- tained clothing and miscella- neous personal property. Police say 61-year-old Samuel Owen of Rainier was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct, pos- session of a user quantity of methamphetamine, sec- ond-degree theft, third-degree criminal mischief and felon in possession of a restricted weapon. Police say the inci- dent was related to a dispute between Owen and another person. FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA TONIGHT WEDNESDAY THURSDAY 53 39 35 Mostly cloudy Cloudy and chilly with occasional rain Mostly cloudy, a little rain; chilly Full Salem 40/54 Newport 41/51 Mar 31 Coos Bay 44/52 New Apr 8 Apr 15 John Day 39/57 DUII • At 11:58 p.m. Monday, Olivia Tess Hinson, 28, of Cannon Beach, was arrested by Oregon State Police on U.S. Highway 101 near Gear- hart and charged with driving under the influence of intox- Baker 34/53 Burns 31/53 Klamath Falls 35/52 Lakeview 33/49 Ashland 43/61 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018 Source: Jim Todd, OMSI TOMORROW'S TIDES Astoria / Port Docks Time 11:03 a.m. 10:57 p.m. Low 0.2 ft. 1.7 ft. Today Lo 34 34 46 41 37 35 43 39 41 44 W c sf c c pc c c c c c Hi 53 55 53 53 51 52 63 53 51 53 Wed. Lo 46 39 40 39 41 39 45 41 40 41 W c c r r r sh r r r r City Olympia Pendleton Portland Roseburg Salem Seaside Spokane Springfi eld Vancouver Yakima Hi 57 58 61 61 60 54 51 59 60 63 Today Lo 30 38 40 45 40 36 32 41 38 32 W pc c c c c pc pc c c pc Hi 56 60 56 58 54 53 51 54 54 60 Wed. Lo 40 50 44 42 42 40 42 39 43 42 W c c r r r r c r r c TOMORROW'S NATIONAL WEATHER NATIONAL CITIES Today Lo 37 30 29 28 27 26 49 5 71 27 29 57 58 38 68 34 51 31 37 30 31 43 55 37 34 Hi 53 53 57 58 51 51 60 60 55 59 W pc pc pc pc c pc s sn pc c c pc c sh s c pc c s sn c pc r pc sn Hi 54 36 41 61 48 42 82 23 81 42 58 76 66 57 80 49 69 34 67 33 50 63 65 58 38 Wed. Lo 34 32 26 36 34 25 58 0 72 23 40 59 60 38 54 32 52 30 48 28 32 51 56 43 29 Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. W s sn pc pc pc s pc pc c pc s c r pc s s s sn s sn pc c r c sn APPLIANCE AND HOME FURNISHINGS 529 SE MARLIN, WARRENTON 503-861-0929 IN YE TSOP C LA NTY C OU son in the car, allegedly then moved over to the passenger seat and denied driving when she was arrested. She later refused to take a breath test at the Clatsop County Jail, where she was restrained in a chair for a blood draw. PUBLIC MEETINGS TUESDAY Port of Astoria Commission, 4 p.m., Port offices, 10 Pier 1, Suite 209. Astoria Library Board, 5:30 p.m., Flag Room, 450 10th St. Seaside School District Board of Directors, 6 p.m., 1801 S. Franklin, Seaside. Clatsop Community College Board, 6:30 p.m., South County Campus, 1455 N. Roosevelt Drive, Seaside. Shoreline Sanitary District Board, 7 p.m., Gearhart Hertig Station, 33496 West Lake Lane, Warrenton. Seaside Planning Commis- sion, 7 p.m., work session, City Hall, 989 Broadway. WEDNESDAY Seaside Tourism Advisory Com- mittee, 3 p.m., 989 Broadway. Monday’s Megabucks: 1-12- 16-34-41-46 Estimated jackpot: $1.8 million WASHINGTON Monday’s Daily Game: 9-3-7 Monday’s Hit 5: 06-10-13-24- 33 Estimated jackpot: $190,000 Monday’s Keno: 04-05-10-13- 27-30-37-40-45-50-51-54-56- 59-63-69-72-74-75-79 Monday’s Lotto: 01-05-19-39- 45-47 Estimated jackpot: $3.1 million Monday’s Match 4: 03-10-13- 16 OBITUARY POLICY PACKAGE DEALS Mattresses, Furniture & More! icants, reckless driving and attempting to elude police with a vehicle. After a trooper tried to pull her over just south of Warrenton, she allegedly con- tinued southbound before police eventually were able to stop her. Hinson, the only per- Feb. 22, 2018 MARTINEZ, Argelia and Victor, of Warrenton, a girl, Salma Eleanor Martinez, born at Colum- bia Memorial Hospital in Astoria. Grandparents are Placido Martinez of Los Angeles, Josefina Dominguez of Puebla, Mexico, Porfirio Mendez of Long Beach, Washington, and Carolina Alva- rez of Seaside. OREGON Monday’s Pick 4: 1 p.m.: 4-0-5-8 4 p.m.: 6-9-5-2 7 p.m.: 6-8-2-2 10 p.m.: 8-6-4-7 Monday’s Lucky Lines: 04-07- 10-14-18-24-27-29 Estimated jackpot: $11,000 APPLIANCE 3 A 0 RS board space will be rented for one month, and the organization hopes the advertisement gets at least one person to consider going vegan. She says the nonprofit bought similar billboards following recent cattle truck crashes in Tennessee and Louisiana. LOTTERIES Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice. Over side outside Madras. The billboard will feature a cow next to the words “I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the individual. Go Vegan.” People for the Ethical Treat- ment of Animals spokeswoman Amber Canavan tells The Bul- letin newspaper that the bill- BIRTH REGIONAL CITIES City Baker City Bend Brookings Eugene Ilwaco Klamath Falls Medford Newberg Newport North Bend Associated Press ON THE RECORD La Grande 38/55 Ontario 40/60 Bend 34/55 PETA billboard to memorialize cattle killed MADRAS — An ani- mal-rights group says it’s buy- ing billboard space along U.S. Highway 26 to memori- alize 14 calves that died last week when the truck they were riding in rolled onto its Roseburg 45/58 Brookings 46/53 Tonight's Sky: Spring begins with the vernal equi- nox at 9:15 a.m. PDT. Hi 67 38 39 54 41 42 71 31 81 42 48 69 70 49 89 51 70 39 60 34 44 59 59 56 39 Lebanon 41/54 Medford 43/63 UNDER THE SKY High 9.1 ft. 7.6 ft. Prineville 34/58 Eugene 41/53 Last Pendleton 38/60 The Dalles 40/59 Portland 40/56 Sunset tonight ........................... 7:28 p.m. Sunrise Wednesday .................... 7:17 a.m. Moonrise today ........................... 9:15 a.m. Moonset today ......................... 11:14 p.m. City Atlanta Boston Chicago Denver Des Moines Detroit El Paso Fairbanks Honolulu Indianapolis Kansas City Las Vegas Los Angeles Memphis Miami Nashville New Orleans New York Oklahoma City Philadelphia St. Louis Salt Lake City San Francisco Seattle Washington, DC 48 36 Chilly with rain Tillamook 36/53 SUN AND MOON Time 4:21 a.m. 5:16 p.m. 46 34 Shown is tomorrow's weather. Temperatures are tonight's lows and tomorrow's highs. ASTORIA 35/53 Precipitation Monday ............................................ 0.00" Month to date ................................... 1.89" Normal month to date ....................... 4.71" Year to date .................................... 20.50" Normal year to date ........................ 22.10" Mar 24 SATURDAY REGIONAL WEATHER Astoria through Monday. Temperatures High/low ....................................... 54°/35° Normal high/low ........................... 54°/39° Record high ............................ 72° in 1914 Record low ............................. 26° in 1965 First 48 37 Occasional rain ALMANAC FRIDAY HOURS OPEN: MON-FRI 8-6 * SATURDAY * SUNDAY 10-4 We Service What We Sell The Daily Astorian publishes paid obituaries. The obituary can include a small photo and, for veterans, a flag symbol at no charge. The deadline for all obituaries is 9 a.m. the business day prior. Obituaries may be edited for spelling, proper punctuation and style. 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