Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1980)
vu$ uitii 'SPARER LIB !ENE OR 0 7403 Eiveride wins state title See pages 1 and 9 Seepages 6 and 7 The Heppner ME Remember to vote March 25th Morrow County's Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper VOL. 98 NO. 12 THURSDAY. MARCH 20. 19K0 ?fl f KTS 12 PAGES HEPPNER oltEGON El GAZE rm BBIHBSSE&SSSS Budget vote slated Tuesday Registered voters in Mor row County will be voting on the county school board bud get and the Blue Mountain Community College budget as well as selecting two directors for the college and members of the school board and its advisory board at the March 25 election. Voters in Heppner also will vote on that city's budget. Irrigon voters will vote in the County Office Building, Boaru..it.n at the Greenfield Grange Hall, lone at the high school, Lexington at the school district office, and Heppner at the City Hall. Polls are open Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Support asked for college Voters in Morrow and Uma tilla counties will be asked to approve an 8.5 percent in- a rease in tax levy to support lue Mountain Community College when they go to the polls March 25. Also on the ballot will be the election of two directors to the Board of Education. Joe B. Jreen of Pendleton and Ken Dauble of Weston, are both seeking re-election to their current posts on the board. They are both running unop- , 1 i. O - ;J $ . V ; Ken Dauble posed in the election. The total levy to be ap proved is $2,335,439, up $184,594 from last year. Since BMCC does not have a tax base, it is necessary to obtain voter approval on the total tax levy each year. "The college cannot start the school year until the voters have approved the operating budget," according to Ron Daniels, president of Blue Mountain. The president pointed out that under the new property tax relief program, as devel oped by the state of Oregon, the college could have asked for a tax levy increase of more than $400,000, and the entire amount would have been eligible for an A ballot all of which would have been covered by the 30 percent "home owner occupied pro perty tax relief payment. BMCC's Budget Committee, however .decided at the begin ning of budget deliberations to keep the levy increase under 10 percent. If approved by the voters, the new operating levy wold be about $1,37 per $1,000 of true cash value. Taxpayers paid $1.32 per $1,000 this year. The college also has a bond debt levy of .14 cents per $1,000 of true cash value. The total cost for support of BMCC to the owner of a $50,000 home would $75.50. This is an increase of $4.50 over the current year. The district's share of the budget represents about half of BMCC's 1980-81 proposed operating budget of $4 5 mil lion, up 14.7 percent and $581,984 from the current year. The balance of funds to operate the community col lege programs throughout the two counties comes from state and federal sources, as well as from student tuition and fees. State funding totals about 31 percent, federal funds 8 per cent, and tuition and fees 9 percent. Local property taxes pay 51.5 percent. The budget includes the addition of only one new instructional program in the area of Small-Business Rec ords and Management. Funds for the new program would be provided half by the college and half by a basic vocational grant. Also included in the budget proposal is an additional instructor in the Business Department to handle the demand for business classes on campus and in the Hermis ton area. Other new positions would be a half-time grounds- keeper, a half-time graphic artist, and a part-time secre tary at the Hermiston Center. Resources other than pro perty taxes are projected to increase $329 850 from this year to $2,400,900. The major increases are in cash carry over from overrealizations of tuition and state fund receipts of $150,000 and $145,150 from State Community College Funds. The major increase in the budget is because of a 10.5 salary increase for full-time staff (totaling $241,119) and retirement and social security payments (for $90,417). About 63 percent of the total budget is for instruction. School budget gets the most The county school budget receives the most property taxes in the county. Matt Doherty, school super intendent, presented the school budget at a recent Chamber of Commerce meet ing. The total budget is for $5,536,854. Resources total $2,200,345, which is up almost $500,000 from the current year. The amount needed from taxes to balance is $3,336,509. An additional tax is added to cover collectibles. It amounts to 10 percent, or $33,640. The levy added for al ready approved debt service totals $704,674. So the total tax to be levied amounts to $4,374,834. Because voters will not pass on $588,510. which is within the six percent limitation; nor on $709,674, which has been approved in previous years for bonded indebtedness, only $3,079,974 will appear on the ballot March 25. The increase in the budget from this year is $1,149,268. The two new schools in the north end of the county require $588,159 of that; for growth that is occuring in the county schools takes $77,342; and the amount for the basic budget which would have been the only increase if it were not for the new schools is for $483,767, which is an 11 percent increase over this year. The estimated cost per $1,000 for next year if this budget passes is for $8.22, up 49 cents from this year's $7.73. The cost for a $GO,000 piece of property will increase to $493.20, which is $29.40 cents more than a person paid this year for the same valued property. The school budget is on an A ballot and so it will partially be funded by the state. Doherty said the increased valuation in the PGE coal fired plant is a "blessing" because it cuts down on the amount other taxpayers pay. He compared the tax rates of other counties with Morrow County. Doherty showed that Ukiah pays $22 .29 per $1,000 in valuation for the school bud get, Umapine pays $20.25, Hermiston $11.56, and Pendle ton $10.71 while Morrow County is asking for $822 Lovgren explains city budget City Administrator Mar shall Lovgren explained the Heppner city budget at the Chamber of Commerce meet ing Monday. He said the city faces an A and B ballot measure. On the A ballot will be $76,094, which will partially be funded by the state, and on the B ballot will be $46,748, which must be paid for by only local taxes. The total amount outside the six percent limitation is $122,842. "The biggest obstacle to passing the city budget is the difficulty in explaining about the two budgets," Glen Ward, budget committee member, said. "People will be inclined to vote for the smaller B ballot I l-l jn miff J' Jjf , if J d j Joe B. Green but both need to pass for the services to remain the same." If the B ballot does pass but the A ballot does not, both are considered not to pass. The A ballot must pass before the B ballot can pass. Lovgren said the major increase is in materials and supplies. "Gas was 78 cents a year ago and is $1 .25 a gallon now," he said. "We have been bare, boning the budget for the last few years and it is starting to catch up with us." If the city's valuation in creases 11 percent in the next year as projected, the tax rate will be $1.86 per $1,000 more than this year although that is not exact, Lovgren said. To offset the rising costs, water rates will go up $1 for service and five cents per thousand gallons used. Sewer rates will increase $1, too. Low income and elderly will not have to pay the increased rates. A person living on $3,925 a year, two people making 55,200 a year or a three-person family with an income of $6,475 a year can notify city hall and they will not have to pay the increase. Lovgren said. If the city's valuation in creases 11 percent in the next year as projected, the tax rate ., will be $1.86 per $1,000 more than this although that is not exact. Lovgren said. Lovgren said the budget approved this year was for $443,258 and the proposed budget for next year is for $551,030, which is a 24 percent increase. The contingency and trans fer fund will increase 570 percent from $6,062 to $40,684. Materials and supplies in the sewer operation will increase 100 percent, from $10,995 to $21,942. In the water utility operation, materials and sup plies will increase from $30,570 to $46,444 if the city budget passes. Materials and supplies for the streets will increase 44 percent from $20,895 to $30,092. In the general government section, materials and supplies will increase 45 percent from $71,720 to $103,855. If the city budget passes the election Tuesday, property owners will pay approxi mately $10.24 per $1,000 valua tion. On a $50,000 piece of property, taxpayers would have to pay $93 more this year, from $419 to $512. Pouer outage Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative announced Mon day that there will be an electrical outage this Sunday from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. so repairs can be done. All of the downtown area will be affected. 1 : wv.. r "in " Baby's cry wakens parents sure a ch: A newborn baby's cry may have saved the lives of three young Heppner area resi v.' nts. A home owned by Don Robinson on Highway 74 three miles east of Heppner toward Pilot Rock burned to the ground last Thursday morning. Rep. Ullman planning Heppner visit By Steven A. Powell Congressman Al Ullman will be coming to Heppner April 10, campaign director Jim Beall and Ullman's dis trict representative Gayle Gilmour announced at a luncheon last Friday. The two Ullman representa tives met at the Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative conference room with interes ted persons in the area who asked questions about Ull man. At the West of Willow Restaurant following the per sonal conferences, the two representatives announced tentative plans of having a breakfast and a town hall gathering the morning of April 10. They also answered some questions that are of concern to eastern Oregonians. Beall said Ullman has been instrumental in helping Pio neer Memorial Hospital re ceive federal funding and has also played a part in the Willow Creek Dam project so he has been keeping the people of Morrow County in his mind. It was brought up that Denny Smith may be a strong challenger to Ullman in the next election and Beall only said, "He has a lot of money and he does not have to work so he can spend a lot of time campaigning." Beall said Ullman is in favor of having a nuclear power plant at Pebble Springs once two problems are solved. The problem of storage of nuclear waste and the overall safety of a nuclear plant, Beall said. "Once these are solved, Ullman has no objections because every source of energy needs to be used, including solar and nuclear, because of the shortages," sl 1 Ah i ;:'.. - ! . i , i house burns to sround Rick and Kathy O'Neal lived in the house along with their infant daughter Tiffany Dawn O'Neal, who was born March 2. Kathy O'Neal awoke in the night to attend to her daughter and smelled smoke. A fire had started in the flue of the wood stove and the O'Neals tried to put it out. Beall said. "Conservation of energy is first on his list and the use of renewable energy his sec ond," Beall continued. A new source of energy should not be gone to until the cost would be110 percent of the cost of conservation, Beall said. Ullman's third choice is non-renewable energy. On the topic of herbicides, Ullman does not feel they should be banned unless clear scientific information is shown that it is unsafe, they said. Just because accusations of health problems have been made does not justify a ban. As to the Wilderness Acts that are tying up much of the forest lands in the Morrow County area, Beall said the act under Senator Mark Hatfield that passed the Senate is trying to be changed by Ullman. "Ullman is looking for trade offs that can be arranged," Real said. "Ullman wants even less land in the Wilder ness Acts than the forest service. He wants no wilder ness area in the Northfork of the John Day which is critical to logging in this area. Until the lands are considered wilderness, Ullman thinks they should not be locked up and treated as wilderness areas. Ullman is exploring compromises to allow logging in areas that are being tied up by the Wilderness Acts even though they have not been declared actual wilderness areas. beall also explained the Value Added Tax that Ullman is proposing. He said the VAT is a business tax added on at each stage of production. Other Iff V ' ?TT?tv,J ' - Attempts were futile so they drove to town to call the fire department because their phone was out, of order. . The volunteer rural fire department from Heppner answered the call within five minutes, according to Chief Forrest Burkenbine. The call was made at about 3:20 a.m. "When we got there, it was countries use it and Ullman said he feels it can help control inflation. Once inflation is under control, people will start saving their money more and the economy will prosper. The income tax then could be reduced. "We need to build incentives to save bv not taxing interest if tO I. A b: jit) 1 Gayle Gilmour (left) and Jim Beall. A ational budget cut Council fears axe for Willow Dam Heppner councilmen ex pressed concern Monday night that President Jimmy Carter might delete the Willow Creek Dam project in his effort to balance the federal budget. An aide in Congressman Al Ullman's Salem office, how ever, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that there was no indication that such would be the case. Ann Warner, Ullman's projects W A as fire so hot we could not get inside," Burkenbine said. The house was insured for $10,000 but it was worth more than that. Burkenbine said. "Rick (O'Neal) did not have any personal insurance (on any of his belongings that were destroyed by the fire)." Burkenbine said. that is in a savings account." Beall said. "With incentives to save, not buy, we can hold back inflation. For God's sake don't put Ullman down for trying to add another tax. He is only trying to stimulate discussion. It is a restructured taxing system not an addi tional tax." coordinator, said the con gressman would appear within two weeks before the Water Resources Subcommit tee to request $7.7 million for fiscal year 1981 for the Willow Creek project. The subcommittee is under the House Appropriations Committee, which is headed by Ullman. ( Continued on page 12). t asw m. - i . ...... -J ( r.. 5
