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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 2016)
Page 8A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian Thursday, February 11, 2016 STANDOFF: Leader Ammon Bundy and others were arrested Jan. 26 Continued from 1A Sean Anderson said late Wednesday he spoke with the FBI and that he and the three other holdouts would turn themselves in at a nearby FBI checkpoint at 8 a.m. Thursday. Anderson relayed the news to Fiore. “We’re not surrendering, we’re turning ourselves in. It’s going against everything we believe in,” he said. Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon, said in a statement the situation had reached a point where it “became necessary to take action” to ensure the safety of all involved. Bretzing said one of the occupiers rode an ATV outside “the barricades established by the militia” at the refuge. When FBI agents tried to approach the driver, Fry said he returned to the camp at a “high rate of speed.” The FBI placed agents at barricades ahead of and behind the occupier’s camp, Bretzing said. FORESTS: 2.3M acres burned across the Blue Mountain in 2015 Continued from 1A “This is planning in a real different way,” Aney said. “We just have to do something different, because what we’re doing now is not sustainable.” The Blue Mountains Restoration Strategy team has already pitched one project to treat 100,000 acres DURXQG/RZHU-RVHSK&UHHN in the Wallowa-Whitman 1DWLRQDO )RUHVW $QH\ VDLG D¿QDOHQYLURQPHQWDOLPSDFW statement for that project is “basically done,” and the work should take 10 years to complete. This project would target an area nearly 13 times as big, covering 13 counties in northeast Oregon and south- east Washington. Foresters would thin 118,000 acres LQ WKH 2FKRFR 1DWLRQDO Forest, 212,000 acres in the 8PDWLOOD 1DWLRQDO )RUHVW and 280,000 acres in the :DOORZD:KLWPDQ 1DWLRQDO Forest. “We just keep seeing forest conditions build and build to support large and LQWHQVH ZLOG¿UHV´ $QH\ said. “If you look at the climate change models, it’s only going to get worse.” A 60-day scoping period will run through Tuesday, April 5, including public meetings and public comment. Meeting dates have not yet been scheduled. A draft environmental impact statement will be published sometime later this summer. If approved, work on the ground would begin in 2017. “We want to do what is right for the landscape, while balancing social and economic issues,” said Tom Montoya, Wallowa- Whitman forest supervisor, in a prepared statement. “We encourage all citizens to contribute to this important project.” 7KHZLOG¿UHVHDVRQ saw more than 2.3 million acres burn across the Blue Mountains. Stacey Forson, Ochoco forest supervisor, said active forest restoration is simply not keeping up with growth. “In order to promote a healthy and productive forest, we must look at ways to do planning differently, at a larger scale and faster pace,” Forson said. The idea of accelerated restoration is bound to make some people uncomfortable, Aney said, but it is critical they get in front of the issue to protect the long-term health of the forests. “We can’t do that under the current way of operating, I can tell you that,” he said. Project maps can be downloaded at www.fs.usda. gov/goto/forestresiliency- SURMHFW &RPPHQWV FDQ EH submitted online or emailed to r6restorationprojects@ fs.fed.us. Written comments can dropped off or mailed to WKH8PDWLOOD1DWLRQDO)RUHVW RI¿FHDW&R\RWH5RDG in Pendleton. ——— Contact George Plaven at gplaven@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0825. “It has never been the FBI’s desire to engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue, and to that end, the FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully,” he said in a statement. Authorities had for weeks allowed the occupiers to come and go freely from the remote refuge, leading to criticism from local and state RI¿FLDOV WKDW ODZ HQIRUFH- ment wasn’t doing enough to end the situation. Group leader Ammon Bundy and others were arrested Jan. 26 on a remote road outside the refuge, but the four holdouts remained. On Wednesday night Sandy Anderson said after the group was surrounded: “They’re threatening us. They’re getting closer. I pray that there’s a revolution if we die here tonight.” Her husband, Sean Anderson, said in the OLYHVWUHDP³:HZLOOQRW¿UH XQWLO ¿UHG XSRQ:H KDYHQ¶W broken any laws, came here to recognize our constitu- tional rights.” The occupiers said they saw snipers on a hill and a drone. The standoff was occur- ring on the 40th day of the occupation, launched by Bundy and his followers to protest prison terms for two local ranchers on arson charges and federal manage- ment of public lands. Bundy was arrested last month as he and other main ¿JXUHV RI WKH RFFXSDWLRQ were traveling to the town of John Day. Four others were also arrested in that confrontation, which resulted in the shooting death of the group’s spokesman, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum. The FBI said Finicum was reaching for a gun. Most of the occupiers ÀHG WKH UHIXJH DIWHU WKDW Authorities then surrounded the property and later got the holdouts added to an indict- ment charging 16 people with conspiracy to interfere with federal workers. $W ¿UVW %XQG\ XUJHG WKH last holdouts to go home. But in response to the grand jury indictment, he took a more GH¿DQWWRQHIURPMDLO SEAPORT: Received $500K loan to pay staff Continued from 1A Sieber said the canceled ÀLJKWV ² HLJKW RYHU WKH past two weeks — were due to a plane that required repair. Sieber expects the UHSDLUV ZLOO EH ¿QLVKHG by the end of the week, which he hopes will boost the airline’s completion rate from 83 percent to the target 95 percent. $V IRU WKH 1RUWK %HQG route, Sieber said it was VLPSO\ WRR XQSUR¿WDEOH WR continue. Despite strong boarding numbers in the summer, Sieber said winter demand was too low. Sieber said Pendleton enjoys a consistent passenger base year-round. 7KH 3HQGOHWRQ ÀLJKW DOVR UHFHLYHV VLJQL¿FDQW ¿QDQFLDOKHOSIURPWKH86 Department of Transporta- tion’s Essential Air Service program, which provides a $1.8 million subsidy to SeaPort to maintain the route. SeaPort’s contract with the airport is up at the end of the year, and Sieber said the company intends to submit a bid to continue air service, which it has provided since late 2008. After a period of expan- sion that at one time saw 6HD3RUW SURYLGH ÀLJKWV across two dozen routes in 11 states and Mexico, the company is now limited to the Pendleton-Portland route and three routes based out of Arkansas. SeaPort has attributed its downsizing to a pilot shortage and a big part of its plans to exit bankruptcy is restructuring of its pilot recruitment process. Sieber said SeaPort will now target smaller pilot schools to avoid competi- tion with larger airlines and streamline its pilot training process to ensure there is a steady stream of available personnel. SeaPort will be able to pay its current pilots and staff with a $500,000 loan it received from Fountain 9LOODJH'HYHORSPHQW//& which a judge approved Wednesday. Sieber said that could be increased to $1 million if a judge grants SeaPort bankruptcy on Feb. 26. Although SeaPort owes more than $1.3 million to its top 20 creditors alone, Sieber said the company expects to exit bankruptcy within a year. Sieber said SeaPort will be refocus its efforts on the 1RUWKZHVWDQG3HQGOHWRQ 6WHYH &KULVPDQ 3HQG- leton airport manager and economic development director, has said that each bid for air service needs to include a plan to increase boardings at the airport, which has been in steady decline over the past several years. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0836. DISPATCH: Police work cost nearly $1.41 million Continued from 1A $571,000, including $452,700 in 9-1-1 state tax revenue. The county also provides $60,000 for admin- istrative costs. That leaves a gap close to $1.54 million, which the other local emergency agen- cies now help cover. 7KH SRUWLRQ IRU ¿UH DQG ambulance services comes to $127,192, with Hermiston ¿UHLQWKH1RVSRWSD\LQJ $60,000, and Pendleton at 1RZLWKDELOORI 1LQH RWKHU ¿UH DQG DPEX- lance agencies combined pay $18,473. The committee chose a ÀDW FKDUJH SHU FDOO IRU ¿UH and ambulance because those services are about 10 percent of the work the dispatch center handles. Police work accounts for the rest and gets the big sticker — nearly $1.41 million. Elfering said he divided that amount into the assessed value for all the participating communities — more than $4.9 billion — to get the tax rate. He then applied the rate to the assessed value for each FLW\ RU DUHD WR ¿JXUH ZKDW each needed to contribute. 8PDWLOOD&RXQW\ZLOOSD\ the most, close to $806,000 a year, and Pendleton and Hermiston are more than $250,000 each. Umatilla is fourth at roughly $52,000 a year, but Russ Pelleberg, soon-to-be FLW\ PDQDJHU DQG ¿QDQFH director Melissa Ince said they were concerned that bill will increase fast. Four big data centers operate in the city under free enterprise zones, but as those zone agreements end, the centers come on to the property tax rolls and increase Umatilla’s assessed value and thus its dispatch costs. Several committee members said they also want to keep an eye on costs, so the group agreed to re-eval- uate the formula at least once a year. Elfering, who is running for election again this year, created the committee in 2015 at the behest of VHYHUDOORFDO¿UHDQGSROLFH department heads. He said with the funding proposals done, the committee soon can get going on its objec- tive — advising the sheriff’s RI¿FHUHJDUGLQJWKHGLVSDWFK center. %XW ¿UVW WKH JURXS SODQV to hash out how to pay for capital improvements. Pend- leton and Hermiston already pay $5,000 a month into a city/county fund for public safety improvements. Herm- LVWRQ &LW\ 0DQDJHU %\URQ Smith said the committee needs to know the county’s schedule for replacing electronics and more in the center, and how much that really costs. The committee meets again March 8 in Hermiston. PERS: Employers warned to expect maximum increases over the next six years Continued from 1A 20 percent — growing from $18 billion at the end of 2014 to between $21 and $22 billion a year later. That will put renewed upward pressure on payments the system’s 925 public-sector employers are required to make. Public employers had already been warned to expect maximum increases over the next six years, which would take their pension fund contribution rates from an average of about 18 percent of payroll to nearly 30 percent, redi- recting billions of dollars out of public coffers and into the retirement system. In reality, those “maximum” increases could be a lot bigger. Milliman Inc., the actuary for the Public Employees Retirement System, told board members at their regular meeting Friday that the pension fund now has 71 to 72 cents in assets for every $1 in liabilities. That’s an average number across the entire system. Some individual employers’ accounts, including the system’s school district rate SRRO DUH ÀLUWLQJ ZLWK WKH 70 percent threshold that triggers larger maximum rate increases. Here’s how it works: To prevent rate spikes, PERS limits the biennial change in employers’ payments to 20 percent of their existing rate. For example, if an employer is required to make contri- butions equal to 20 percent of payroll, the rate increase is “collared” to 20 percent of that number, or a 4 percentage point increase. That 20 percent increase is what employers have been warned to expect every other year for the next six years. But when an employer’s funded status falls below 70 percent, that collar begins to widen on a sliding scale — up to a maximum of 40 percent. Milliman actuary Matt Larrabee said the funded status for school districts has been 1 to 2 percentage points below the system-wide average. So school districts are already slipping into the zone where they might expect bigger increases in 2017. State agencies and local government employers are typically a bit better funded than the system average. But PERS also has 130 “independent” public employers, some of which may fall into the funding red zone. That was the funding situation at the end of 2015. And the system’s entire rate forecast is based on the assumption that investments will deliver annual returns of 7.5 percent - the system’s new assumed earnings rate. Financial markets so far this year have fallen into a tailspin, which has some economists predicting a new recession. John Tapogna, president of the economic consulting ¿UP (&21RUWKZHVW VDLG Oregon lawmakers need to focus on the downside risk of lower investment returns, which could drive employer pension contribution rates to 40 percent of payroll. “The December 31, 2015 returns should be keeping people awake at night,” he said. Jim Green, deputy director of the Oregon School Board Association, said some schools have set some money aside to deal with the projected rate increases in 2017, but many Please welcome... Esther Langley & Samantha Cox Esther, a graduate of Lucas Marc Academy, specializes in hair: cuts, color & styles. Samantha specializes in nails, hair and is a licensed esthetician. ials: Valentine S t p o r ec co lo r 20 % o ff cu er ! by E st h yle ee shampoo/st Fr of one or with purchase ucts. more prod good thru 2/2 Call for an appointment. Walk-ins welcome! 8/16 405 N. 1st., Ste. 108 • Hermiston 541-567-6075 haven’t. “It’s a real problem, and the longer you put off dealing with it, the worse it gets,” he said. “Unfortunately, neither legislative leadership nor the JRYHUQRU¶V RI¿FH LV ZLOOLQJ to take this issue on in this short session.” It wasn’t for lack of trying. Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, introduced a bill this session that included a variety of money-saving pension changes, most of which would cut employee FRPSHQVDWLRQ RU EHQH¿WV and prove controversial. Two of the most frequently mentioned are redirecting employees’ 6 percent retirement contributions from supplemental accounts into the pension fund; and changing the interest rate used in the calculation of VRPHPHPEHUEHQH¿WV Knopp said the changes in his bill were analyzed by Milliman, and the esti- mated savings were about $1 billion in contributions during the next biennium DORQH 1R KHDULQJ RQ WKH bill was scheduled by last Friday, however, which means the bill died. Knopp says he under- stands Democrats unwilling- ness to act with an election LQ WKH RI¿QJ JLYHQ XQLRQV¶ desire to keep the status quo. But he believes inaction is potentially catastrophic if the markets don’t perform. “The budget for next session is a disaster,” he said. “It’s billions upside down already. How do you convince Oregonians that they should approve $5 billion in new taxes and reward the Legislature with a massive increase in the budget when they can’t even resolve to go after the simplest of budget savings available to them, which are the PERS reforms?”
