EXPLORE GRANT COUNTY VISITOR GUIDE | INSIDE
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Budget
whoas
Revenues are down,
expenses are up as Grant
County faces diﬃ cult
funding decisions
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County is facing a looming
budget crisis.
The initial 2021-2022 budget
proposed by Grant County Treasurer
Julie Ellison drains the county’s
reserve funds —
about $500,000 —
and reduces cash
on hand by about
$700,000 to bal-
ance a major bud-
get shortfall from
reduced
federal
funding and major Julie Ellison
projects,
repairs
and spending increases in nearly all
of the county’s funds.
Ellison noted in her budget pro-
posal April 7 that the reserve funds
were eliminated so she could sub-
mit a balanced budget to the Bud-
get Committee, which will make the
ultimate funding decisions before
the July deadline.
“The only way to solve the per-
petual shortfall will be to eliminate
positions,” she said.
Ellison said, if the county was to
spend all of its reserves this year, it
would not have any left to balance
the budget again next year, so they’ll
have to budget accurately or make
even more signiﬁ cant cuts next year.
How bad is it?
Ellison noted in the budget mes-
sage that in the last ﬁ scal year, 2020-
2021, the county had $1.5 million
cash on hand to start the year.
The county will begin ﬁ scal year
2021-2022 on July 1 with $727,997,
according to the proposed budget.
At the start of ﬁ scal year 2020-
2021, Ellison said, the county had
$206,000 in its contingency fund.
In the upcoming ﬁ scal year 2020-
2021, the fund is proposed to be at
$39,959.
153nd Year • No. 15 • 16 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
GRANT COUNTY
Highest infections, lowest vaccinations
County has worst COVID-19
numbers in the state as more
people are getting sicker
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
L
ast week, Grant County had the highest rate of COVID-19 infections per
capita in Oregon, and the county also has the worst vaccination rate in the
state. The county’s rate of COVID-19 infections was 625 per 100,000 peo-
ple, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of Sunday, Grant and Coos counties have the lowest vaccination
rate in the state, 17.4%, according to the CDC, which calculates based on complete
vaccinations.
On Sunday, Kimberly Lindsay, Grant County
public health administrator, estimated that around
30% of the county’s residents are partially or fully
vaccinated.
Lindsay said the county has stopped requesting addi-
tional vaccine doses from the Oregon Health Authority
because of a lack of demand. She said the county put ﬁ rst
shots into the arms of 73 residents last week, along with
273 second shots for the two-shot vaccines.
On Monday, Jessica Winegar, health department clinic
manager, said the health department had 1,200 doses on the
shelf that she would not be taking to that day’s vaccination
event.
Lindsay estimated that roughly 200 or more people
would get their Moderna COVID-19 booster shots this
week with 30 more getting the ﬁ rst shot in the series.
The CDC has paused distribution of the Johnson
Eagle ﬁ le photo & Johnson vaccine.
Grant County Public Health Ad-
Greg Armstrong, the owner of
ministrator Kimberly Lindsay
Len’s Drug, told the Eagle
they have more doses at the
pharmacy than people
coming in to getting the shot.
“I am very concerned,” Lindsay said. “With
70% unvaccinated, that leaves just over
5,000 people available for COVID-19 to
move through freely. That’s a lot of room
to roam.”
With the uptick in cases, including
14 new cases announced Tuesday,
Lindsay said the county will move
into the extreme risk level, which
further restricts businesses,
See COVID, Page A16
Revenues down
Expected revenues from the last
budget cycle did not materialize, and
expenses exceeded estimates, lead-
ing to the budget problems this year.
One large revenue source — Pay-
ment in Lieu of Taxes, which funds
states to oﬀ set property tax losses
in areas with high concentrations
of federal public lands — brought
Grant County upwards of $706,000.
The only problem: The county
budgeted for $900,000.
Ellison said in the message she
attributes part of the deﬁ cit to the
county banking on $200,000 more
in revenue than they received.
See Budget, Page A16
Eagle ﬁ le photo
Rebekah Rand, emergency
medical services director
with the Blue Mountain
Hospital District prepares
a vaccine shot at a January
vaccine clinic at the Grant
County Fairgrounds.
John Day residents support police department
Pavilion ﬁ lled to capacity as
people express concerns on
police, projects and budget
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
A majority of John Day residents at Thurs-
day’s town hall showed support for keeping
the John Day Police Department, but far fewer
supported the funding option
presented.
Ninety-eight people ﬁ lled
the the newly ﬂ oored pavilion to
max capacity to share thoughts
with city leaders April 8 while
30 people attended the meeting
virtually.
John Day
The future of the police
City
Manager
department took center stage
Nick Green
as a handful of comments and
questions centered on the two
options presented for law enforcement in the
future: entering a law enforcement services
agreement with the Grant County Sheriﬀ ’s Oﬃ ce
or seeking a local levy to fund the department.
Transitioning to the Grant County Sheriﬀ ’s
Oﬃ ce would mean the three current John Day oﬃ -
cers would be transferred to the county sheriﬀ ’s
oﬃ ce at a cost to the city of about $450,000 next
ﬁ scal year, according to City Manager Nick Green.
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
The pavilion at the Grant County Fairgrounds was ﬁ lled to max capacity for a town hall April 8.
Green said, if the city were to keep the depart-
ment, three three oﬃ cers would be retained by
the city with a new police chief hired by Sept.
1, Police Chief Mike Durr’s set date for retire-
ment. The cost would be $655,405 next year, an
increase of $119,979 over this year’s budget due
to increasing costs and expenses.
The city would need about $75,000 per year
in local operating funds to keep the depart-
ment, which would be covered by a ﬁ ve-year
local tax costing John Day residents between
10 and 15 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.
A levy would need to be approved by voters in
John Day.
The city would need a population of about
2,500 people or more to sustain the police depart-
ment in the future without raising taxes, accord-
ing to Green.
John Day resident and Dispatch Director Val-
erie Maynard said she is in favor of keeping the
police department. She asked the council what
kind of coverage would be provided to John
Day if the city were to contract with the sheriﬀ ’s
oﬃ ce.
“The county is very large, and you can put
three more county oﬃ cers on, and they aren’t
See Support, Page A16