A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
$24 billion PERS
liability will make
recovery harder
O
regonians don’t need
reminding how much
worse slipping into a
recession can be when they are
loaded up with debt. It’s a bad
combination we wouldn’t wish
on anybody.
But Oregon’s state govern-
ment has brought just that sort
of combination on to the state’s
taxpayers because of the state’s
$24 billion Public Employees
Retirement System debt.
The COVID-19 pandemic
is not something legislators or
Gov. Kate Brown anticipated.
They can hardly be blamed
for that. When they are mak-
ing the difficult choices to cope
with COVID-19, though, those
choices will be tougher because
of that $24 billion hanging over
the state.
Let’s be clear. PERS does
provide a valuable service to
the state. Since 1945, it’s been
providing retirement benefits
to state workers. They deserve
good retirement benefits. Con-
trary to what you might have
heard, the average annual ben-
efit is about $31,000 a year,
and most beneficiaries receive
$3,000 a month or less. Yes,
there are some crazy payouts
of more than $9,000 a month to
some recipients — about 1,600
people. And we’d also rather
see pension benefits work more
like a 401(k) than some parts of
the state retirement system.
The $24 billion debt isn’t
exactly like a credit card debt.
It’s the money the state will
have to have to meet its pen-
sion obligations in the future
that it doesn’t anticipate
having.
That unfunded liability is
covered in two ways, essen-
tially. The first are payments
from employers with PERS
employees. For instance, most
local school districts make
payments to cover the PERS
benefits of their employees.
Employers are are contribut-
ing sizable portions of their
payroll.
That’s a big chunk of
money, and it may well get big-
ger. That’s because the other
way that unfunded liability
is covered is from the perfor-
mance of state investments.
Investment returns provide
about 75% of the money to pay
PERS benefits. What just hap-
pened to the stock market? It
plummeted. The PERS board
had assumed the rate of return
on its investments would be
7.2%.
Will the market come rush-
ing back up? Let’s hope so.
Because if investment returns
are low, that $24 billion
unfunded future liability will
grow. School districts, local
governments and state govern-
ments will have to pay even
higher percentages of pay-
roll just to cover PERS ben-
efits. And that will mean less
money for school supplies
and computers, less money to
pave roads and less money to
pay state expenses from the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The PERS reforms passed
by the Legislature and signed
by Gov. Brown in 2019 were
a step in the right direc-
tion. Those reforms, though,
achieved most of their savings
by putting off when the PERS
debt would be paid.
How bad do things have to
get before legislators do more
to address the PERS debt? To
put the state on better finan-
cial footing to handle a crisis?
We know Gov. Brown and law-
makers have a more immediate
emergency to deal with now.
That $24 billion just makes it
harder.
GUEST COMMENT
Economic stimulus
information for small businesses
A
ll small business own-
ers to some degree (many
severely) are being neg-
atively affected by the over-
night economic shutdown due
to the COVID-19 virus. Fortu-
nately, there are programs to assist
small business owners and their
employees.
Information regarding these
programs has been changing fre-
quently. The two main stimulus
programs are the Economic Injury
Disaster Loan and the Paycheck
Protection Program, which is part
of the recently passed $2 trillion
CARES Act. The following infor-
mation came from the Small Busi-
ness Administration.
Economic Injury
Disaster Loan
• The EIDL now offers up to
a $10,000 grant (loan advance),
which does not need to be
repaid if the money is spent on
paid leave, maintaining pay-
roll, increased costs due to sup-
ply chain disruption, mortgage or
lease payments or repaying obli-
gations that cannot be met due
to revenue losses. The website to
directly apply is: covid19relief.
sba.gov/#/
• Important: The grant is a
new aspect of the EIDL loan, so
if you applied prior to the grant
being offered, you must reapply to
request consideration for the grant
at the website listed above.
• Funds for the loan advance
will be made within three days of
a successful application and will
not have to be repaid.
• The interest rate for the
remainder of the loan awarded is
3.75%.
• Businesses can get both an
EIDL loan and Paycheck Protec-
tion Program loan as long as they
don’t pay the same expenses. Be
sure to check with your financial
required for the loan. The lenders
are expected to defer fees, prin-
cipal and interest for no less than
six months and no more than one
year.
Can these loans be forgiven?
Yes, small businesses that take
out these loans can get some or all
of their loans forgiven. Generally
speaking, as long as employers con-
tinue paying employees at normal
levels during the eight weeks fol-
lowing the origination of the loan,
then the amount they spent on pay-
roll costs (excluding costs for any
compensation above $100,000
annually), mortgage interest, rent
payments and utility payments can
be combined and that portion of the
loan will be forgiven.
Small business owners can
apply right now for the EIDL
loan, but as of this date, the
CARES Act is still being enacted
and isn’t available right now—but
will be soon.
adviser or lender
before taking both
loans if you are
not sure of the
specifics.
Greg Smith
Paycheck
Protection
Program
How does the program
work?
Currently, the SBA guaran-
tees small business loans that are
given out by a network of more
than 800 lenders across the U.S.
The Paycheck Protection Program
creates a type of emergency loan
that can be forgiven when used to
maintain payroll through June and
expands the network beyond SBA
so that more banks, credit unions
and lenders can issue those loans.
The basic purpose is to incentiv-
ize small businesses to not lay
off workers and to rehire laid-
off workers that lost jobs due to
COVID-19 disruptions.
What types of businesses are
eligible?
The Paycheck Protection Pro-
gram offers loans for small busi-
nesses with fewer than 500
employees, select types of busi-
nesses with fewer than 1,500
employees, 501©(3) non-profits
with fewer than 500 workers and
some 501©(19) veteran organiza-
tions. Additionally, the self-em-
ployed, sole proprietors and free-
lance and gig economy workers
are also eligible to apply. Busi-
nesses, even without a personal
guarantee or collateral, can get a
loan as long as they were opera-
tional on Feb. 15.
How big of a loan can I get
and what are the terms?
The maximum loan amount
under the Paycheck Protection
Act is $10 million, with an inter-
est rate no higher than 4%. No
personal guarantee or collateral is
One-time $500 grant for
restaurant workers
This grant application opens
April 2 and funds will be adminis-
tered on a first-come, first-served
basis. To apply and for more
information visit: https://rerf.us/
Please reach out to us if we can
assist you in any way. As men-
tioned above, the CARES Act is
still being enacted and both pro-
grams are evolving, but we will
do our best to keep business
owners informed of the latest
information.
We are actively working with
our partners at Business Ore-
gon, the SBA, lenders, chambers
of commerce and other business
organizations. We can be reached
by calling 541-962-1532 or email-
ing eousbdc@gmail.com.
Greg Smith is the Eastern Ore-
gon University Small Business
Development Center director.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
‘Lady Liberty is
blindfolded for a
reason’
WHERE TO WRITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201
S. Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax:
541-575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon
City 97820. Phone: 541-575-0509.
Fax: 541-575-0515. Email: tocc1862@
centurylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville
97825. Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-
987-2187. Email:dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John
Day, 97845. Phone: 541-575-0028.
Fax: 541-575-1721. Email: cityjd@
centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long
Creek 97856. Phone: 541-421-3601.
Fax: 541-421-3075. Email: info@
cityoflongcreek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426,
Monument 97864. Phone
and fax: 541-934-2025. Email:
cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt.
Vernon 97865. Phone: 541-932-4688.
Fax: 541-932-4222. Email: cmtv@
ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie
City 97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax:
820-3566. Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca
97873. Phone and fax: 541-542-2161.
Email: senecaoregon@gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State
Capitol, Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-
3111. Fax: 503-378-6827. Website:
governor.state.or.us/governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State
Capitol, Salem, 97310. Phone: (503)
986-1180. Website: leg.state.or.us
(includes Oregon Constitution and
Oregon Revised Statutes).
• Oregon Legislative Information —
(For updates on bills, services, capitol
or messages for legislators) — 800-
332-2313.
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Published every
Wednesday by
To the Editor:
It appears that my previous let-
ter to the editor submitted in March
struck a nerve with Sheriff Palmer.
I was advised that he authored a
long, rambling diatribe on his per-
sonal Facebook page defending
his naming of additional “special
deputies.” In reading the post by
Sheriff Palmer, two things became
abundantly clear. One, Sher-
iff Palmer clearly does not proof
read his musings before hitting
send. Two, and of much more con-
sequence, is that he stated in his
Facebook post that he named two
current county commissioners,
Sam Palmer and Jim Hamsher, to
be “special deputies” for the sher-
iff’s office. It might be understand-
able that Sheriff Palmer would not
see this obvious conflict of inter-
est, but I would like to think that
the commissioners, who oversee a
large county budget, would have
enough common sense to realize
this fact and decline.
The duties of the commission-
ers include budgetary oversight
of all county agencies, including
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
Publisher............ ......................................Chris Rush, crush@eomediagroup.com
Editor & General Manager ...............Sean Hart, editor@bmeagle.com
Reporter ...................................................Rudy Diaz, rudy@bmeagle.com
Reporter ...................................................... Steven Mitchell, steven@bmeagle.com
Sports ........................................................sports@bmeagle.com
the sheriff’s office. How can Sam
Palmer and Jim Hamsher objec-
tively oversee the sheriff’s depart-
ment when they are de facto
members of that department? Addi-
tionally, do Sheriff Palmer’s squad
of “special deputies” have access to
confidential police databases used
by law enforcement for legitimate
inquiries?
I have only been a citizen of this
county for about five years, but I
believe that the people of Grant
County deserve a professionally
run sheriff’s office that understands
that Lady Liberty is blindfolded for
a reason. Sadly, my observations
over the past five years of how
Sheriff Palmer runs his depart-
ment run contrary to these basic
standards.
Steve Smartt
John Day
Be more thankful
and less critical
To the Editor:
I want to address the grum-
blings I have heard concerning the
increased prices at our local Ches-
ter’s Thriftway in John Day.
These are tough times we are
going through. Everyone is experi-
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Phone: 541-575-0710
encing difficulties from not being
able to go through our day with
our normal activities, to finding the
food and supplies we are used to
seeing on our store shelves. None
of this was due to anything any of
us have done or could have pre-
vented. Having been an owner of
a restaurant and store in the past
I know the struggles these busi-
nesses are going through to stay
open to serve our needs. They are
not only putting their health at risk
but also finding it difficult to finan-
cially trying to sustain their busi-
nesses. The prices of their ship-
ments have gone up if they can
get their needed products at all. If
you see increased prices at the gro-
cery stores or your local restau-
rants just know they are not goug-
ing you, they are simply trying to
stay in business so they can serve
our needs.
We need to remember that when
we have fundraisers or need dona-
tions of any kind our local busi-
nesses are the first to divvy up.
Let’s all take a moment to be
thankful for what we have and less
critical of those who are working
hard and putting their health on the
line to serve us.
Rusty Clark
Monument
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Blue Mountain Eagle
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