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143rd year, No. 116
REGONIAN
Thursday, March 28, 2019
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
Return of the gas tax?
city manager
unveils proposal
to bring in $1.2
million a year to
repair streets
Revision
gives nod
to rural
Oregon
update to carbon
cap bill also removes
industry exemptions
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Pendleton
residents
could again consider a
gas tax to help repair the
town’s miles of deteriorat-
ing roads.
Pendleton city Manager
robb corbett presented the
proposal Tuesday night to
the city council during a
work session. he said the
council tasked him with
getting the city’s street bud-
get up to $1.2 million a year
and finding a long-term fix
for streets.
“What I’ve done is
brought you a proposal that
could realistically do that,”
he told the council.
The plan has three
prongs.
First, corbett wants the
city to immediately use
$3 million from the urban
renewal district for road
repairs in 2020.
The district expires in
four years, and corbett said
it has $5 million in funds
and is receiving fewer
requests for the money. he
said the plan has been to
use any money left over for
public projects, and $3 mil-
lion would be an important
injection to help streets in
the district.
second, the city would
ask Pendleton residents
$1.50
By AUBREY WIEBER
Oregon Capital Bureau
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Raindrops cause ripples across a puddle in a pothole on Southeast Byers Avenue on Wednesday in Pendleton.
to pass a 6-cent-a-gallon
tax that would generate
$660,000 a year for road
maintenance.
Third, corbett said the
city would end the $5.30
monthly utility fee prop-
erty owners pay if voters
pass an additional gas tax
of 7 cents a gallon.
The utility fees comes to
$63.60 a year for Pendleton
homeowners. corbett said
the additional 7-cent tax
would cost the same, so it
would have a neutral effect
on the average Pendleton
taxpayer while producing
an additional $332,000 a
year for roads.
The total of 13 cents
a gallon would generate
$992,000 a year. The aver-
age Pendletonian would
pay $127 a year, or almost
$10.60 a month. But 40
percent of the total reve-
nue, corbett said, would
come out of the pockets of
travelers.
corbett said tackling the
town’s streets over 10 years
would cost $41 million.
That’s based on the most
recent “Pavement condi-
tion report,” he said, but
the city can cut the amount
almost in half.
using the $3 mil-
lion from urban renewal
drops the need to $38 mil-
lion. using a “surgical”
approach to road repairs,
he said, shaves off 25 per-
cent. surgical means the
city would rebuild only the
sections of streets in need
of rebuilding while main-
taining the other sections.
another 25 percent
comes off due to the
increase in water and sewer
rates. Many streets in need
of repair also need water
and sewer upgrades, and
the higher fees include the
cost of the road work. cor-
bett said that leaves $21.4
million over 10 years.
The two gas taxes and
the $1.2 million the city
is putting each year into
street repairs would add up
to about $2.2 million a year,
enough to cover the tab.
The plan is about
See Gas tax, Page A6
accident has a happy ending for stray dog and her pup
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Photo contributed by Robin Barker
This dog was run over by a car in Hermiston, and doctors
discovered she needed an emergency C-section.
a stray dog was run over by a car Tues-
day in hermiston, but the injury ended up
saving the life of the dog and her then-un-
born pup.
Late Tuesday afternoon, hermiston
Pet rescue and Fuzzball animal rescue
responded to a call about a small dog that
had been hit by a car on southwest 11th
street and hermiston avenue.
robin Barker, a board member with
Fuzzball animal rescue, said when they
went to pick up the dog, a chihuahua, they
noticed there was milk leaking.
“At first we thought she had pups
nearby, but it turned out she was preg-
nant,” Barker said.
The pup was too big for the dog to
deliver, and the veterinarian at Oregon
Trail Vet clinic ended up having to do an
emergency c-section. They also had to
amputate the dog’s leg, as it had shattered
when she was hit.
“The guy who hit her was so upset,”
Barker said. she said several people,
including the person who hit her and peo-
ple from nearby businesses, immediately
stopped and tried to find the dog, but she
ran into a nearby field.
Barker said this is not an uncommon
problem in hermiston.
“The stray population and roamers are a
huge problem,” she said. “We have another
one in rescue who got hit and has a double
fracture.”
Barker said after some initial shock and
uncertain moments, both the mother and
her pup are doing well and are expected to
survive and recover.
“how she survived, I’ll never know,”
Barker said. They will both be in foster
care for the next two months, while the
mother heals.
Barker said they haven’t quite figured
out a name for either dog yet, but they have
some ideas.
“We’re thinking ‘Xena’ for the mom,
like Xena: Warrior Princess,” she said. and
for her pup, they’re thinking “Marvel.”
“Like a miracle,” she said.
saLEM — climate
advocates are coming up
roses after legislative revi-
sions to a proposed car-
bon pricing policy for Ore-
gon left unchanged the most
significant mandates while
softening the impact across
the state.
rural Oregonians would
now get additional special
treatment, while polluters
were given little, if any, con-
cessions. Two major exemp-
tions originally proposed
for polluters were stripped
following advocacy from
environmentalists.
The anticipated changes
are the first major changes
to house Bill 2020, the Leg-
islature’s latest attempt to
impose new environmental
standards that would limit
and price pollution in new
ways. The “cap and trade”
policy was the subject of
recent hearings across the
state, drawing unusually
large crowds for a legislative
hearing as witnesses either
painted gloomy pictures of
what would happen with
such a new policy or said it
wasn’t tough enough.
The
changes
were
revealed Monday by state
sen. Michael dembrow,
d-Portland, and state rep.
Karin Power, d-Milwaukie,
who are co-chairs of the
Legislature’s Joint commit-
tee on carbon reduction.
The 129-page amendment
is based on public testimony
from citizens and indus-
try players providing the a
range of concerns. Overall,
Power and dembrow said,
the heart of the bill remains.
“Our goal is not only to
create a program that will
effectively combat climate
change, but also of course
to do it in a way that invests
in Oregon’s economy, espe-
cially our rural economies,”
dembrow said.
The program would put
a cap on certain emissions.
companies would have to
reduce their emissions to
under 25,000 metric tons
of greenhouse gasses a year
or buy certificates allowing
excess pollution.
Money from selling
allowances would pay for
See Cap and trade, Page A6
Daylight saving decision
tied to neighboring states
By MARK MILLER
Oregon Capital Bureau
saLEM — Oregon may
not go it alone on switch-
ing to daylight saving time
year-round.
In the latest legislative pro-
posal, Oregon would only
stop “falling back” in Novem-
ber if neighboring california
and Washington do likewise.
Washington
lawmakers
approved the idea this month.
They still need to reconcile
differences between the com-
peting proposals — one bill
would refer the question to
voters, while the other would
not — and submit one to Gov.
Jay Inslee for approval.
In
california,
voters
passed Proposition 7 last year,
allowing a change to perma-
nent daylight time if two-
thirds of legislators approve.
a bill to put california on
year-round daylight time has
not yet received a vote.
If all three states move to
daylight time, the West coast
of the continental united
states would effectively run
on Mountain standard Time
year-round. British colum-
bia is considering a simi-
lar idea, and its premier said
he expects the canadian
See Time change, Page A6
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Water boils out of the spillway and into McKay Creek beneath the McKay Reservoir on
Wednesday in Pendleton. A fresh round of rain and continual spring meltoff is leading
to river levels remaining high.