Va. news crew
killed on live TV
MARINERS
BEAT THE
ATHLETICS 1B
91/60
NATION/7A
THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2015
139th Year, No. 225
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
Kicker will return $402.4M to taxpayers
By PETER WONG
Capital Bureau
Estimated Kicker Value
Income Group
Income
Bottom 20 percent
< $10,200
Second 20 percent
$10,200 - $23,800
Middle 20 percent
$23,800 - $43,800
Fourth 20 percent
$43,800 - $79,900
Next 15 percent
$79,900 - $157,100
Top 4 percent
$157,100 - $336,400
Top 1 percent
> $336,400
Average
Median
$53,900
$30,000 - $35,500
Kicker
$10
$55
$125
$235
$469
$1,073
$4,614
$244
$124
² Source 2reJon 2I¿ ce oI (conomic $nDl\ViV
PENDLETON
City staff
compiles lists
of roads that
fees would ¿ x
SALEM — Oregonians
can expect an average of $124
off their 2015 tax returns due
in April 2016, according to
the state’s latest economic
and revenue forecast.
State Economist Mark
McMullen said Wednesday
that the amount of excess
income tax collections from
the previous two-year budget
cycle is $402.4 million, down
from the $473 million fore-
cast May 14.
He said tax collections
dipped more than anticipated
in late spring and the result is
the smaller amount.
Wednesday’s forecast is
the ¿ rst of the new budget
cycle, and also is the one
immediately after the close of
the 2013-15 cycle.
Unlike the practice for the
past two decades, the excess
— known as the “kicker” —
will be returned to individual
taxpayers in the form of a
credit against the following
year’s tax bills. Lawmakers
in 2011 ended the practice
of mailing checks directly to
taxpayers that was started in
1995.
The average rebate of $124
is for Oregon median incomes
— half of them above and
half below — ranging from
$30,000 to $35,000. Because
the rebate is based on liability,
higher-income households
will get far more than the
average; low-income house-
holds will get as little as $10.
The most recent kicker
was in 2007, when $1.1
billion was rebated a few
months before the of¿ cial
start of the latest economic
downturn.
A 1979 law, which voters
wrote into the Oregon Consti-
tution in 2000, requires a
rebate of excess taxes when
actual collections exceed
budget projections by 2
percent.
The law also applies to
corporate income taxes, but in
2012, voters earmarked any
excess collections of corpo-
rate taxes for the state school
fund. That amount is built
into the current state budget
cycle that started July 1.
Totem pole journey makes stop in Boardman
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
A little more than two months before Elec-
tion Day, Pendleton city staff have produced
lists of roads that could be addressed using
revenues from a $5 street utility fee and a
5-cent gas tax.
City staff presented two rough draft lists to
the Pendleton City Council at a work session
Tuesday. One was a list of streets that would
be funded by a utility fee. The other was a
longer list of streets that would be funded
if voters pass
“We don’t want
a gas tax in
addition to the
to burden the
utility fee.
The council
taxpayer too
is looking to
pass the utility much, but I don’t
fee
within
think another
the next few
months, while
$2.10, if they
voters
will
need to approve understand what
the gas tax in we’re doing and
November
for the city to what we’re using
implement it.
it for, is asking
The
lists
use a funding
for too much.”
f o r m u l a
— John Brenne,
determined at a
previous work Pendleton city councilman
session. All new
revenue would
be used for less-traveled, residential streets,
with 70 percent going toward well-main-
tained streets and 30 percent earmarked for
roads currently in poor condition.
One of the poor streets targeted for repair,
regardless of which list is used, is Southwest
Perkins Avenue. The residents of the McKay
Creek-area road submitted a petition to the
city in November to ¿ x their street, igniting
council discussion over ¿ xing the city’s
À agging transportation system.
See PENDLETON/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A color guard with the Yakama Warrior Association participates in a ceremony for the 2015 Totem Pole Journey on
Wednesday at the Boardman Marina Park.
Tribes try to squelch
fossil fuel exports
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The 22-foot totem pole created by Jewell James is traveling
from British Columbia to Montana and is following the route
potential coal trains will follow from the mine to the sea.
It took Jewell James and his family four months to carve
a colorful 22-foot totem pole depicting American Indian
drummers among traditional wildlife including an eagle,
turtle, badgers and lizards.
Each ¿ gure tells a story about the tribes’ connection to the
earth, said James, head carver for the Lummi Nation’s House
of Tears Carvers in Bellingham, Washington. Yet many of
those natural resources are now under threat by proposed
fossil fuel exports across the Paci¿ c Northwest, he said.
In an effort to raise awareness and unity for the environ-
See TOTEM/8A
HERMISTON
Schools see record number
oI students on ¿ rst day
Hermiston district enrollment almost 5,600
By SEAN HART
East Oregonian
More students were enrolled
Wednesday for the ¿ rst day of
school in the Hermiston School
District than ever before.
Deputy
Superintendent
Wade Smith said, although
the numbers usually decline
as school gets underway from
families who moved during the
summer, the district currently
has close to 5,600 students
enrolled.
“Last year, we peaked
at about 5,300 students and
settled into a 5,200 student
count,” he said. “If we follow
suit similarly this year, we
should settle in between 5,400
and 5,500 students.”
The district freed up some
space for students by leasing
a 24,000-square-foot district
of¿ ce building at 305 S.W.
11th St. and consolidating
many different functions there
that were previously housed
in other schools, Smith said.
Even with three additional
classrooms at the high school,
however, the facility is already
full and exceeding its capacity
See SCHOOL/8A
Pug-of-war
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Yoshi, a 2-year-old pug, plays tug-of-war over a pepperoni stick with Blake
Self, 8, of Pendleton during the Wednesdays in the Park music series at Roy
Raley Park in Pendleton.