Business
AgLife
B
Thursday, April 14, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Some state
workers
enjoy wage
gains
State employees
making $100K or more
jumped 23% in 2021
By HILLARY BORRUD
The Oregonian
SALEM — Oregon’s roughly
38,000 state government workers
enjoyed another year of wage growth
in 2021, with median pay well above
the state’s overall workforce and more
employees earning six-fi gure salaries.
The gains came during a tumul-
tuous time for Oregon workers, as
some in the private sector lost jobs
and businesses while others enjoyed
notable pay raises in the fi rst full fi scal
year of the pandemic.
The huge range of state jobs,
including everything from cleaning
staff and jobless benefi t claim adju-
dicators to park rangers, investment
managers and nurses at the state psy-
chiatric hospital, had a median base
pay of $64,800 in the fi scal year that
ended June 30, 2021, according to The
Oregonian’s analysis of state pay data.
The median state salary is almost
certainly somewhat higher than the
analysis found because pay data pro-
vided by the state did not indicate
which employees worked less than a
full year. Median total pay, including
overtime and other income such as
accrued vacation payouts, equipment
allowances and settlements, was
$70,200.
In contrast, Oregon’s median wage
for all jobs across the private and
public sectors in 2021 was $44,900,
rounded to nearest $100 according to
Employment Department data.
Oregon’s lowest state worker
annual pay rate was a hair over $15 an
hour, almost $2 more than the state’s
minimum wage in the Portland met-
ropolitan area and $3 more than the
minimum in the 18 most rural coun-
ties in the state.
At the high end, 5,618 state
employees brought home base pay of
at least $100,000 in fi scal year 2021,
according to state data. That was a
23% increase from the previous year.
When overtime and other pay such
as vacation payouts were included,
7,298 state workers earned total pay
of at least $100,000 in 2021, a 25%
increase from the prior fi scal year.
Pay fi gures for fi scal year 2021 do
not include one-time COVID hazard
payments of $1,550 the state issued to
employees required to work in person
during a portion of the fi rst 16 months
of the pandemic.
State workers are set to receive
5.6% cost-of-living raises by
December 2022, paid for with the
$198 million pot for pay increases
that lawmakers approved in the 2021
legislative session. Former House
Speaker Tina Kotek, now running
in the Democratic primary for gov-
ernor, said during a debate hosted
by the Oregon AFL-CIO that she
made sure during her time in the
Legislature that lawmakers appro-
priated generous amounts for pay
“bargaining pots” because “we don’t
want people leaving public employ-
ment because they feel they’re not
being treated well.”
Oregon government’s own analysis
of state worker compensation in early
2021 determined that, as of July 1,
2020, the state paid employees highly
competitive salaries and benefi ts com-
pared with key areas of the Pacifi c
Northwest job market: 100.2% of
market rate, due in large part to ben-
efi ts including pensions and heavily
subsidized health insurance plans, for
which state workers paid just $19 a
month to insure their whole family.
Since then, state workers received a
3% cost-of-living adjustment and peri-
odic increases in pay rates known as a
step increase that on average boosted
pay by 4.8%.
Oregon government agencies had
38,494 employees from July 2020
through June 2021 who were paid at
least the minimum annual base salary
of $31,600. Nearly 10,000 additional
See, Workers/Page B6
LOCAL YARN
DYEING STORE
celebrates fi rst anniversary of
physical storefront
Rebel Woolworks embraces
its role in downtown
business landscape
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
L
A GRANDE — What once
started as a hobby and online
store has elevated one local
business owner’s career into a
full-on storefront in downtown
La Grande.
Rebel Woolworks, a favored spot for locally
dyed yarn, is thriving at 1113 Adams Ave. as it
approaches its one-year anniversary. Owner Tara
Sager has utilized the central location to expand the
store’s services and contribute to La Grande’s down-
town environment.
“It’s been a whirlwind, but I’m really looking
forward to next year,” Sager said. “It’s moved from
what was a hobby turning into a business, into a
business that is continuing to grow and expand.”
See, Rebel/Page B6
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
Rebel Woolworks owner Tara Sager poses for a picture behind the store’s
counter on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The speciality store, which sells hand-
dyed yarn and now includes a mercantile for artisan products, is set to
celebrate the one-year anniversary of its physical storefront on Local Yarn
Store Day, April 30, 2022.
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
A selection of hand-dyed yarn, including Tara Sager’s specialty “The Good Red,” await shoppers
and stitchers on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, at Rebel Woolworks, La Grande. The shop, which sells
hand-dyed yarn and now includes a mercantile for artisan products, started as an online
business before setting up at 1113 Adams Ave. in downtown.
EO Rental & Sales moving to former PGG site
La Grande-based
Braseth Properties
purchased site in 2021
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Remod-
eling the 42,000 square-
foot former Pendleton Grain
Growers headquarters, at 1000
SW Dorion Ave., remains a
work in progress.
When completed, the
premises will form the new
home of Eastern Oregon
Rental & Sales.
Braseth Properties LLC,
of La Grande, bought the
building and parking lot on
July 23, 2021, at auction for
about $1.8 million. The Pend-
leton branch of its subsidiary
sales business will move from
its present location at 338 NW
57th Drive to the ex-PGG site
later this year.
“We’re moving from up
near the airport to downtown
at the former PGG site,” Gen-
eral Manager Dan Domey said.
The company has not set a
grand opening date.
Besides Pendleton, Eastern
Oregon Rental & Sales has
locations in Baker City and
La Grande and is doing busi-
ness as NW Construction
Supply Inc., of Pasco. It off ers
an extensive line of aerial
work platforms and all-terrain
forklifts.
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Cars pass by the former Pendleton Grain Growers headquarters, 1000 SW Dorion
Ave., Pendleton, on Wednesday, April 6, 2022. Braseth Properties LLC, doing business
as Eastern Oregon Rentals & Storage in La Grande, is renovating the property.