The Library
University of Oregon
Euane. Or -97-103
For Microfi1"1
ew X-ray gear ordered, nursing
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home fees rapped in Board meeting
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Gazette-Times Photo
Winging it
Fall is in the air. ..as this scene on Clark's Canyon Road depicts. Migrating Canada Geese
were making a brief stop in a recently harvested wheat field to glean the combine
droppings. Warm, sunny weather the past few days has enabled most farmers to get back
into the fields to finish hafvest. Observers feel that if warm, dry weather holds through the
weekend, most wheat in Morrow County will be in storage.
Mike Davidson, 28, of Hep-
QjJgj JxUrt ill pner was seriouslv injured
Monday in an industrial acci
dent at Kinzua Corporation's
KiTi7iin nwidpnt Heppnermi11
i.Yllllilltt ttlllUCll l Company officials said Da
vidson received head injuries
and severe face cuts when he
became pinned between a
steel "I" beam and a pin stop
at the mill's debarking opera
tion. The workman was rushed to
Portland, where he is current
ly listed in stable condition at
St. Vincent's Hospital.
Gazette-Times News Analysis
New X-ray equipment and
nursing home facility room
costs were the central topics'
of discussion during a
Tuesday night meeting of the
Pioneer Memorial Hospital
board of directors.
The board voted to order a
$107,000 x-ray unit with flouro
scopic capabilities from the
General Electric Corp., pend
ing approval of the hospital's
grant request from the federal
department of Health, Educa
tion and Welfare to fund the
purchase.
The grant application was
filed more than a year ago. In
recent months, the act con
taining the grant money was
signed into law. Hospital
Administrator Robert Byrnes
reported that the prospects for
receiving the grant money
within the next several
months "looks pretty good."
Should some snafu cause the
federal funding to be dropped,
the hospital would be under no
obligation to purchase the
equipment. The agreement
with general electric would
only serve to speed up
delivery time should the grant
arrive as planned. The grant
would also pay for several
improvements to the hospi
tal's physical plant, including
upgrading of the incenerator
facility.
The new X-ray gear would
greatly expand the hospital's
radiological examination cap
abilities. Upper and lower
gastrointestinal tract exam
inations could be performed in
Heppner, rather than having
patients needing the tests
referred to medical facilities
in larger cities. The new gear
would replace the hospital's
15-year old x-ray unit, which
hospital officials say is out
dated and may be on the verge
of being condemned by state
health officers, although the
old machine has met state
standards for allowable radia
tion emmissions during a
recent test.
Board President Fred Mar
tin said state examiners have
informed hospital personnel
that if the old x-ray unit is
sold, it could not legally be
used for examining humans
The Heppner
Morrow County's Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper
VOL.96 NO. 39 HEPPNER, OREGON Thursday, September 28, 1978 TWO SECTIONS 20 PAGES 20c
Paint spree culprits ordered to
pay fines and serve jail terms
Two men and a woman who
pleaded guilty to criminal
mischief charges in connec
tion with the Sept. 1 spray
paint spree that defaced
;crpusi buildings and stre
ets in Heppner, were meted
out jail terms, fines, and
ordered to pay restitution in
Heppner Justice Court Tues
day. Appearing before Justice
Court Judge Dee Gribble were
Michael Bushke, 19, Randall
Jydstrup, 22, and Sheri Rog
ers, 20, all of Heppner. A
fourth man, Tommy Ray
Ayres of Lexington, pleaded
guilty to criminal mischief
charges in the same incident
during a hearing last month,
but failed to appear for
sentencing and remains at
large.
"The court takes a dim view
of your actions," Judge Grib
ble said before handing down
the penalties. The three were
given six month sentences,
with all but 24 days in jail
suspended, provided they en
roll in a weekend work-release
program at the Umatilla Cou
nty Jail. In addition, they were
ordered to pay fines of $505
each, and to each , pay an
additional $225 in restitution
for damage done to Heppner
buildings including City
Hall and to city streets and
bridges. They were also order
ed to repaint doors that were
vandalized at the Sears build
ing, and to write open letters
of apology to the citizens of
Heppner, to be printed in the
Gazette-Times.
Ayers, although absent dur
ing sentencing, was handed
down the same penalties.
More than a dozen anti-police
and pro-drug slogans and
obscenities were painted on
Heppner buildings, bridges
and roads. A dog was also
coated with spray paint during
the spree.
Bushke, Ayers and Jydstrup
were apprehended shortly
after the incident. Ms. Rogers
was picked up in the Medford
area earlier this week, when
an officer stopped her on a
traffic violation .
Six or Eleven Wha
tSl
n the numb
erst
9
by Rick Steelhammer
When the battle of the ballot measures
comes to a head during the November
election, voters will have a taxing decision to
make in more ways than one.
Ballot measure 6, the California-styled
tax relief package, would limit property taxes
to 1.5 per cent of full cash value. Number 6 is
favored by Republican gubernatorial challen
ger Vic Atiyeh.
Ballot Measure 11 was drafted during a
special session of the Oregon Legislature,
with Measure 6 clearly in mind. State
lawmakers, at the urging of Gov. Straub,
designed 11 to provide a means of property
tax relief more applicable to Oregon law.
There are vast differences between both
proposed Constitutional amendments, and
neither measure is without flaws. Adding to
the difficulity of voters making informed
decisions on which, if either, of the measures
to adopt is the fact that a great deal remains
unknown about how 6 and 11 would actually
effect taxation.
The following paragraphs will attempt to
highlight some of the major features of, and
differences between the two ballot measures.
Basically, Measure 6 would lop property
tax rates for nearly every property owner,
including proprietors of business and rental
property through the 1.5 per cent limitation.
On a statewide basis, business would get the
biggest break, since industry foots the bill for
nearly 70 per cent of Oregon's property taxes.
Under 6, the maximum tax rate would be $15
per $1,000 assessed value, plus the amount for
any bonded indebtedness approved by voters
prior to July 1, 1979. A two-thirds vote by both
houses of the Legislature could allow taxes to
be raised under Measure 6.
Under Measure 6, assessed value would
be rolled back to 1975-76 levels, and could
increase by a maximum of 2 per cent per
year. However, property that changed hands
or was constructed since 1975-76 would go on
the tax rolls at full market value. This means
that in some instances, owners of identical
homes could be taxed differently.
Of the total $15 per $1,000 allowed (not
counting bond levies previously approved)
under measure 6, $10.50 would be allocated
for schools, $2.25 for cities, $1.50 for counties
and 75 cents for community colleges,
according to current legislative interpreta
tions. The current interpretation allows no realistic
provisions for funding special tax distreicts,
such as cemeteries parks or hospitals.
Precisely how the Oregon Legislature
plans to slice the property tax pie under the
terms of Measure Six remains to be seen. But
with 39 per cent of local govenment's
spending power expected to be chopped with
the passage of Measure 6, some programs
will have to suffer. Since voters do not know in
advance which programs would be trimmed,
or how much they would be trimmed under 6,
the decision on which ballot measure to
support becomes even more difficult.
On the positive side, number 6 would drop
residential property taxes dramatically
throughout most of Oregon, where the
average homeowner pays about $25 per $1,000
valuation per year.
As a result of the reductions, housing
could become proportionately more afford
able, and rent rates could theoretically drop.
Businesses would be able to spend money
that would have been diverted to taxes for
investment or expansion, possibly resulting in
more private sector jobs.
On the negative side, most public-supported
schools, and local government
agencies (towns and counties) would be
hamstrung if funding is sought for needed
capital improvements, such as sewer and
water systems, road construction and the
like.
BOAR DAMN "
J fc HEPPNER
Unlike many other school districts in the
state, Morrow County public schools would
not immediately be affected by Measure 6,
since the county system would be able to
operate at its current budget level under the
restrictions of the ballot measure.
Blue Mountain Community College, on
the other hand, would for all practical
purposes be wiped out, if the present
interpretation of Measure 6's allocation
system remains unchanged.
Under the present interpretation 75 cents
of every $1,000 in valuation could be spent for
community colleges. Currently, the rate for
Morrow and Umatilla counties is $2.13,
meaning that nearly two-thirds of the
college's tax income would be gone.
Since newly built or recently sold
property would be taxed at full market value,
rather than at 1975-76 levels, Measure 6 could
limit the freedom to move, buy or sell
property.
Measure 6 could also stifle local
development, since communities could not
use serial levies (according to the Attorney
General) to fund sewer or water plants or new
schools. Because of this, city sewer or water
systems may well have to increase user fees.
Ballot Measure 11 would essentially shift
more of the funding for local government
activities to income tax, by mandating that
half of each homeowner's property taxes (up
to $1,500) be paid out of the state's general
fund.
Number 11 provides more property tax
relief for homeowners than Measure 6, but
none for business or rental property. Number
11 would also serve to limit state spending,
unlike Measure 6, since passage would
commit the state to property tax relief
obligations estimated to take up about 20 per
cent of the state's 1979-81 biennium general
fund. In effect, this would reduce the
availability of any new funds for additional
state programs, and could force cutbacks in
current state spending programs.
Under the terms of 11, all assessed values
would be frozen from Jan. 1, 1979 to Jan. 1 of
1980. The Legislature would re-evaluate the
freeze every year following that date.
Renters would receive additional relief
through Measure 11. About 17 per cent of rent
payments could be expected to be returned
renters by the state in most instances, more
relief than is provided under Measure 6.
If the state's operating expense surplus
exceeds two per cent, the entire surplus must
be returned to income tax payers, under the
terms of 11. Spending limits would also be
placed on school and local governments based
on population increases and the increase in
the price index.
Homeowners would clearly benefit the
most from passage of number 11. Based on
the estimated 78-79 rate of $27 per $1,000 for
Heppner homeowners, tax bills for a $25,000
owner occupied home under the existing
property tax framework would total $675.
Under Measure Six, they would total about
$475. Under Measure 11, they would total
$337.50 the lowest of the three rates.
An owner of a $25,000 home in lone could
expect to pay roughly $525 in property taxes
during fiscal 1978-79 under the existing tax
structure. Under Measure Six, the tax bill
would drop to an estimated $408, and under
Measure 11, the bill would dip to about $262.
In Lexington, the owner of a $25,000 home
would pay an estimated $395 :nder the
current tax structure; about $327 under
Measure 6; and an estimated $197.50 under
Measure 11. Residents of unincorporated
areas of Morrow County could expect to pay
about $373 for a $25,000 home under current
laws; $307 under Measure 6; or $186.50 under
Measure 11.
The Carty coal fired power plant and
other business, industries and utilities in
Morrow County would continue to pay
existing tax rates under Measure 11, easing
the burden on homeowners, but stifling
business expansion and investment.
Unlike Measure 6, Measure 11 would not
threaten any of Oregon's bond programs,
such as the Veterans Home and Farm Loan
program. Measure 11 does not discriminate
against owners of newly built or purchased
home, as Measure 6 does.
Cont on page 3
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