CLEANING UP
HERMISTON
REGION/3A
SANCHEZ EARNS
DISTRICT
TITLE
SPORTS/1B
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2017
142nd Year, No. 9
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Your Weekend
•
•
•
Echo Corn Maze and
Pumpkin Patch
Friends of Weston
Library Book Sale
Haunted House
at White Eagle Grange
For times and places
see Coming Events, 5A
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
60/39
63/41
61/39
Watch a game
vs.
Pendleton vs. Hermiston
Friday, 7 p.m.,
at the Round-Up Arena
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pendleton building inspector Ty Woolsey fi lls out paperwork at a job site on Terrace Drive on Wednesday in Pendleton.
Coalition
to gather
support for
‘cap and
invest’ bill
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Supporters of a proposed
carbon cap and reinvestment
program in Oregon are plan-
ning to kick off their statewide
campaign Nov. 4 in Pendleton,
pushing for lawmakers to pass
the bill during the 2018 short
legislative session.
The so-called “cap and
invest” bill would place a limit
on greenhouse gas emissions,
charge companies and utilities
for exceeding the limit and
reinvest the money in clean
energy projects such as wind
and solar power, electric vehi-
cles and public transit.
Renew Oregon, the coali-
tion backing the bill, estimates
it would raise $700 million
annually while promoting
new clean energy jobs. Gov.
Kate Brown is also on board,
announcing her support at
a screening of the Al Gore
climate change documentary,
“An Inconvenient Sequel:
Truth to Power.”
On Wednesday, Renew
See ENERGY/8A
BUILDING COMMUNICATION
New building offi cial takes
unconventional path to job
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Ty Woolsey has spent only the past
few years pursuing a career in building
inspection, having already exhausted
attempts at being a rodeo cowboy,
diesel mechanic and construction
worker. But those years have been
good to Woolsey, who has risen to
become the city of Pendleton’s top
building offi cial.
It’s Woolsey’s job to interpret the
thousands of pages of building codes
and laws and explain them to the
contractors and citizens who are trying
to produce something on schedule
and on budget. Every new structure
built has to go through him before it is
fi nished and occupied.
A unique set of circumstances put
Woolsey in an important role in the
city’s community development depart-
ment, but the city is having trouble
adding to his ranks.
———
Woolsey grew up on a farm in
Tumalo, a small town seven miles
north of Bend. His family had deep
roots in the construction industry, his
grandfather a contractor and his father,
Chuck Woolsey, an assistant building
offi cial for Deschutes County.
The younger Woolsey spent his
breaks from school helping his grand-
father with construction projects, but
one of his fi rst loves was rodeo.
He competed at the amateur level
See WOOLSEY/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pendleton building inspector Ty Woolsey, right, listens to
journeyman plumber Ryaen Driscoll talk about a project off
Tutuilla Creek Road on Wednesday in Pendleton.
HERMISTON
Gas plant devaluation knocks $934K off county tax rolls
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
The Oregon Department
of Revenue knocked $54
million off the assessed value
of the Hermiston Generating
Company.
The devaluation means
a drop in local property tax
revenue of $934,672 for
2017-18, with education
taking the brunt of the loss.
Linda Blacklock with
the revenue department’s
valuation section said strict
confi dentiality laws prohibit
revealing what led to the
downgrade at the natural
gas plant. The Hermiston
Generating Co., 78145
Westland Road, Hermiston,
had a real market value of
$180 million and an assessed
value of nearly $155 million
for 2016-17. Blacklock said
the plant’s real and assessed
values for 2017-18 are each
$100 million.
Umatilla County mailed
tax bills this week. The power
company’s new values show
up on its latest tax statement.
Paul Chalmers, director
of county assessment and
taxation, said the devaluation
amounts to about 1 percent
of the county’s total assessed
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The Hermiston Generating Co. power plant on Westland Road had its assessed
value lowered by $54 million by the Oregon Department of Revenue.
value.
And the state would not
tell him why Hermiston
Generating’s value fell, he
added.
County tax records show
Hermiston Generating paid
more than $2.43 million in
property taxes for 2016-17,
with $900,000 of that for
education: $89,877 for the
InterMountain
Education
Service District; $96,520 for
Blue Mountain Community
College; and $713,602 for the
Hermiston School District.
The decrease in the
company’s assessed value
dropped the portion for the
school district to almost
$400,000, BMCC’s to about
$54,000 and the service
district’s to roughly $50,000.
Tricia Mooney, Herm-
iston schools interim super-
intendent, said the district
planned for growth at about 3
percent, but that’s now down
to around 1.9 percent. She
said the district will have to
address the situation going
forward, and it’s too early to
say what might result from
the revenue decline.
The tax revenue for the
Hermiston School District’s
bond fell from $626,000
to $411,000, according to
tax statements, and other
programs and entities took
similar hits.
Mosquito control for west
Umatilla County stands to
lose about $16,000, the Port
of Umatilla about $8,400,
and county general fund
about $155,000.
Bradley Knight, the
general manager of the
Hermiston Generating Plant,
did not return a phone call or
email seeking comment for
the story.
Chalmers said the latest
tax statements will also
refl ect the following addi-
tions:
•
Umatilla
School
District new bond requesting
$890,000;
• the bond for Pendleton’s
new fi re station;
•
Stanfi eld
School
District’s bond adjustment
increase;
• And the fi rst year for the
new area of coverage for East
Umatilla Health District or
Medic 400. Chalmers said the
health district now includes
Helix, Adams, Athena and
Weston and has a rate of $1
per $1,000 of assessed value.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0833.