The
Blue Mountain
BIRDERS
BRAVE COLD
FOR BIRD
COUNT
EAGLE
PAGE A3
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W EDNESDAY , J ANUARY 4, 2017
• N O . 1
• 18 P AGES
• $1.00
27 districts receive more than
$7 million in property taxes
each year in Grant County
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
I
n Grant County this year, more than $7
million in property taxes will be collected.
The money is distributed to 27 different
taxing districts in the county based on
individual tax rates for each district.
Several of the districts encompass the entire
county: the Education Service District, Blue
Mountain Hospital, Grant County and Exten-
sion and 4-H.
Most of the districts, however, cover
smaller areas, such as school districts, cities,
Rate †
Net tax collected
Mid-Co.
Prairie
Monument
Long Creek
Dayville
Fox
0.301
0.1673
0.566
0.2521
0.257
0.7619
$100,699
12,930
23,926
9,823
8,852
5,200
Total
$161,429
Rural fire districts
Rate †
Net tax collected
John Day RFD
Permanent*
Bond*
Mt. Vernon RFD
Prairie RFD
1.1862
0.5941
0.5921
1.0012
0.4901
$103,712
51,944
51,769
40,915
19,124
Total
The Eagle/Sean Hart
Tidewater Contractors employees, including Prairie City
resident Hal Gilliam, right, finish paving the parking lot for
the new John Day fire hall May 10, 2016. Temporary bonds
collected with property taxes helped fund the new hall.
rural fire districts and cemetery Editor’s note: This overview a property assessed at $100,000
districts. The John Day and kicks off the Eagle’s “Your with a rate of $1 per $1,000
Canyon City areas are also Taxes” series, in which we would pay a tax of $100.
covered by a parks and
Overall, district tax rates
will examine all 27 taxing
recreation district.
range from $0.1673 for Prairie
districts in Grant County so
Cemetery District to $6.0017
In addition to the county-
you know where your
for the city of Seneca.
wide districts, most properties
property taxes are going.
in the county are taxed by one
Grant County Assessor
school district and one
David Thunell said Measure 5,
cemetery district, as well as either one city or
passed by Oregon voters in 1990, limits the total
amount of property taxes that can be levied on a
one rural fire district.
property. These limits are based on the real
Taxes are based on the assessed value of a
market value of the property, not the taxable
property, and the annual tax rates are often
assessed value. He said, for general govern-
expressed per $1,000 of the assessed value. So,
Cemetery districts
Grant County property tax
breakdown, FY 2016-17
Grand total: $7.84 million
Cemetery districts: $161,429 or 2.1%
Rural fire districts:
$163,751 or 2.1%
Parks & recreation:
194,487 or 2.5%
Cities:
$832,073
or 10.6%
School
districts:
$906,732 or
11.6%
$163,751
Rate †
Net tax collected
Parks & Recreation
0.7484
$194,487
School districts
Rate †
Net tax collected
Dayville
Monument
Long Creek
Grant
Prairie City
2.2213
1.8868
1.6643
1.6468
1.5913
$68,490
81,575
70,281
554,972
131,413
Total
$906,732
www.MyEagleNews.com
Grant County:
$1.58 million
or 20.2%
Extension and 4-H:
$142,829 or 1.8%
Grant Co.
Education
Services
District:
$2.01 million
or 25.7%
Blue
Mountain
Hospital:
$1.84 million
or 23.5%
NOTE: Totals may not equal 100 due to rounding.
*Estimate, not accounting for truncation and compression.
†
Per $1,000 assessed value
Source: Grant Count Assessor’s Office
Research by Sean Hart, illustration by Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
ment, the limit is $10 per $1,000 of real market
value, and for education, the limit is $5 per
$1,000 of real market value.
Six county taxing districts — Blue Moun-
tain Hospital, John Day Rural Fire District and
the cities of John Day, Canyon City, Long Creek
and Mt. Vernon — have also secured voter
approval to levy additional bonds for specific
projects. These temporary bonds have separate
rates from the permanent tax and do not count
toward the maximum limits.
With tax and bond rates combined, total
rates in Grant County range from $11.841 to
$18.1992 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
Countywide
Rate †
Net tax collected
Blue Mountain Hospital
Permanent*
Bond*
Grant County
Grant Co. E.S.D.
Extension and 4-H
3.3523
2.1329
1.2194
2.8819
1.6468
0.2598
$1.84 million
1.17 million
670,403
1.58 million
2.01 million
142,829
Total
$5.58 million
Cities
Rate †
Net tax collected
Seneca
Canyon City
Permanent*
Bond*
Prairie City
Long Creek
Permanent*
Bond*
Mt. Vernon
Permanent*
Bond*
John Day
Permanent*
Bond*
Monument
Dayville
6.0017
5.1245
3.9998
1.1247
4.0826
4.0755
2.2776
1.7979
3.7824
2.5348
1.2476
3.6396
2.9915
0.6481
2.7052
1.1554
$33,325
164,102
128,705
36,190
156,232
27,472
15,353
12,119
75,769
50,793
25,000
354,389
291,439
63,139
12,915
7,869
Total
$832,073
New year brings new laws
By Jade McDowell
EO Media Group
The 2016 legislative session was
a short one, but Oregon lawmakers
had enough time to approve a hand-
ful of new laws that went into effect
Jan. 1.
Some — like a law authorizing
the governing body of Tillamook
County to establish wetlands — ap-
ply to a very narrow segment of the
state’s population. But others will af-
fect all Oregonians.
As always, not knowing about
a new law is not a valid legal de-
fense if you get caught breaking
it.
Criminal impersonation
Sending intimidating emails to
your neighbor while pretending to
be the city planner is now a crime.
Senate Bill 1567 makes it illegal
to impersonate a public servant, vet-
County declines request to
cover Sheriff Palmer’s legal fees
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant Count Court
does not intend to cover at-
torney fees for Grant County
Sheriff Glenn Palmer relat-
ed to a public records law-
suit fi led by The Oregonian
newspaper.
In a unanimous motion
Dec. 28, the court members
said, after investigation, they
will not pay the $78,000 in
attorney fees requested by
The Oregonian, or fees in-
curred in Palmer’s defense,
because the lawsuit was not
covered under the Oregon
Tort Claims Act. They also
requested
county attor-
ney Ron Yock-
im to further
investigate
the matter and
said they may
Sheriff
revisit it.
Glenn
The Or-
Palmer
egonian re-
quested the
attorney fees after suing
Palmer, the sheriff’s offi ce
and Civil Deputy Sally De-
Ford, requesting a judge to
declare certain records to be
public records and to compel
their disclosure, according
to documents fi led in Grant
County Circuit Court. The
Oregonian said in the docu-
ments Palmer refused to pro-
duce the records before the
lawsuit, which entitles them
to attorney fees.
Palmer, DeFord and their
attorney have not responded
to questions about the law-
suit and did not immediately
respond to emailed questions
about the county’s recent de-
cision.
County Judge Scott My-
ers said attorney D. Zachary
Hostetter, who represented
Palmer and DeFord in the
lawsuit, told the county it
would be responsible for
See PALMER, Page A18
eran or member of the Armed Forces
with the intent to cause another per-
son injury.
The new law applies even in cases
See LAWS, Page A18
Winegar named
new fair manager
By Rylan Boggs
Blue Mountain Eagle
Mindy Winegar offi cially
started as Grant County Fair
manager Dec. 26.
The former fair secretary
has been under guidance of
former fair manager Mary
Weaver for months and had
a big hand in putting together
last year’s county fair.
Winegar worked as the
fairgrounds secretary for a
year and a half and is waiting
until she becomes acclimated
to the new job before she hires
a replacement secretary. She
is excited about the promo-
tion and said
she is looking
forward to the
challenge of
putting on the
fair.
“Mary has
Mindy
really grown
Winegar
the fair a lot
and I just
hope to continue to keep it
growing,” Winegar said.
Winegar said she is not
planning any drastic changes
but has a few projects planned,
such as installing a public ad-
dress system Weaver worked
See FAIR, Page A18