Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 2005)
MCHD approves proposed $5.8 million budget --------- ■ ■ ■ VOL. 124 NO. 17 , 12 Pages ■■ — Wednesday, April 27, 2005 ....... ....... .. ------------- Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Volunteers put in batting cage at little league field Patricia and Bill Gentry (left and right) work with son Jerry to build batting cage at Waterland Field. Volunteers for Heppner Little League begin work on the batting cage at George Waterland field Money was raised to add the cage last spring. The majors field is used by three Heppner teams the largest group o f players in Willow Creek little league Heppner Little league is now seeking funds to add a shed for the pitching machine and conditioner for the ground Tax deductable donations can be made to Heppner Little League PO Box 362 , Heppner lone deans up after Saturday flood lone stre ets, businesses and residential areas have been dried up and cleaned up after Saturday’s rains caused flooding in the town, said lone Mayor Mark Bruno A downpour o f rain hit lone Saturday, causing the streets to fill with water and also caused flooding at C o llie r’s M arket and Ed Rolling’s shop The flood control ditch also filled with water and concrete that had been put in the ditch had to be rem oved to allow for d rainage H ow ever, the flooding in the streets was not caused by the blockage, said Bruno The w ater in Rolling’s shop was pumped out and has finished drying up on its own The water in C ollier’s Market was also cleaned up and the store was open again fo r business Monday morning M arcu s C o llier, owner o f the market, was unavailable for comment, but according to Bruno the w ater appeared to come from the roof o f the building and had no other place to go than the store Bruno also believed that there was no damage to the market “ U sually you can watch things,’’ said Bruno, “but things happened so quickly.” All the rain seemed to fall within a short 90- minute span ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. 1 The Morrow County H ealth D istric t B oard Monday night approved a p ro p o sed $5 8 m illion budget for the 2005-06 fiscal year O ut o f the $5.8 m illion b u d g e t, only $874,000 comes from taxes, inclu d in g th e new local option levy voters approved last year The remainder o f the income, $4.9 million, comes from patient revenues generated through private pay, insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, interest, donations and grants. The budget includes a $2 8 million budget for Pioneer Memorial Hospital operations; $595,000 for Pioneer M emorial Clinic; $ 4 7 5 ,0 0 0 for cap ital purchases; $384,000 for Home Health and Hospice; $216,000 for the Irrigon C linic; $ 8 2 ,0 0 0 fo r the B oardm an A m b u lan ce, $ 7 0 ,0 0 0 fo r the new Boardman migrant clinic and contracted services; $50,000 for the Irrigon Ambulance; and $ 1 1,000 fo r co u n ty emergency medical services. The budget also includes $ 7 0 1 ,0 0 0 fo r revenue deductions and bad debt; $ 142,000 for contingencies, $230,000 for capital lease p rin cip al re d u c tio n and $53,000 for long term debt principal reduction M CH D C h ie f Financial O fficer N icole Mahoney outlined a plan to combine financing for new capital purchases under a new flex-lease, which would save the district money. The new fle x -le a se in clu d es purchase o f a new x-ray system, which would include both digital and conventional x-ray equipment, a computer upgrade and an ambulance M ahoney also presented a change in the reporting o f the budget from modified accrual to strictly cash, w hich the board approved The cash system m ethod th a t the board approved does not include beginning and ending asset amounts Last year’s adopted budget was $5.3 million under the cash system The 2003-04 actual expenditures were $4 9 million; the 2002- 03 actual expenditures were $5.6 million and the 2001- 02 actual expenditures were $6.2 million MCHD CEO Victor Vander Does reported that a $34,000 settlement in lieu of taxes from Tillamook dairy operations is expected to be received in November In other business, the board -voted to donate a surplus handicap-accessible van to Morrow County for the Irrigon community. -learn ed of a dramatic increase in medical insurance costs for district em ployees th ro u g h the district’s insurance plan The district has plans to negotiate with the employees’ union concerning the increase, which amounts to around 39 percent. “I’m sure that we’re going to increase the cap some,” said Vander Does “ But if they w ant m ore insurance coverage maybe provider Another option is to go w ith a higher deductible -approved purchase o f x-ray equipm ent from Turnkey for $85,000 to be purchased through a flex- lease plan over a three-year period -ap p ro v ed Dr. K enneth W en b erg ’s reap p o in tm en t to the district’s medical staff -learn ed that the county has estimated $1.04 billion as th e assessed v alu atio n , a cco rd in g to information received from G reg Sw eek, county assessor This amount is used to calculate the district’s tax revenue. M CHD B oard Chair Larry Mills said that he believed the $1 04 billion amount was a conservative estimate -learned o f plans to renovate the sidewalk at Pioneer Memorial Hospital to make it safer they’ll forgo cost o f living (increases).” “It’s an ugly situation,” he added Vander Does said that if the district absorbed the entire cost of the increase, it would cost MCHD in the neighborhood o f $100,000 The current cap on the district’s contribution is $360 per employee Current medical insurance cost for an employee only is $323 per m o n th , w hich will be increased to $451 per month, cost for an employee and spouse will be increased from $677 to $ 1002; cost for an employee and child will be increased from $624 to $835; and cost for an employee and family will be increased from $773 to $1192. The deductible is cu rren tly $1000. O f 56 employees on the payroll, 43 are insured th ro u g h the district plan The district is planning to get a quote from continued page ( h o an ad d itio n al in su ran ce IUCC votes to change name and denominational o p tio n s th a t individual affiliation members of the church have At a general congregational meeting on Sunday, April 24 the members o f the lone United Church o f Christ voted to change the name o f the church to the lone Community Church and also to becom e a m ulti- denominational church for at least a one-year trial period The lo n e C om m unity C hurch will continue to affiliate with the United Church o f Christ, but will also affiliate w ith the Disciples o f Christ and the N ational A sso ciatio n o f C ongregational Christian Churches The name change is a permanent change but the congregation will vote again at the end o f one year to determine whether or not the denominational change will become a permanent change as well This vote was the culmination of a process of self-ev alu atio n and ex p lo ratio n o f o th er den o m in atio n s that the church entered into most o f a year ago The resulting changes will broaden the in regard to their personal denominational affiliation. The lone C om m unity Church will remain true to its roots as a rural community church ICC believes that th eir m ission in the com m unity is, and has always been, to provide a Christian fellowship that is welcoming to all community members and aspires to help each in dividual w ho worships with us to attain his or her ow n personal relatio n sh ip w ith G od through Jesus Christ. ICC believes that these changes will help better fulfill that mission The lone Community Church invites anyone who is interested to visit the church, atten d services or just talk to our members about how it is going R egular w orship serv ices are on Sunday m ornings at 11 a m. , Christian Education classes are from 9:45-10:45 a m , for ages 3 through adult and the lone Christian Youth group (ICY) meets at 7 p m on Wednesdays at the church as well WCVEDG contracts local woman for business recruitment support Doris Brosnan was recently contracted by the W illow C reek V alley Economic Desdopmat Group to w ork on b u s in e s s recruitment to the Heppner, Lexington and lone areas, WCVEDG President David Doris Brosnan to do business Sykes announced recruitment last week Over the past three years, 127 inquires have been received from businesses expressing an interest in moving here These include inquiries from over 30,000 targeted mass m ailings sent ou t by W CVEDG, to the many emails received from the g ro u p ’s South M orrow In d u strial Site w ebsite (www.heppner.net/ in d u stry ). W CV ED G volunteers have been unable to keep up w ith the recruitment efforts, Sykes said “D oris will play a vital role in doing contact and follow up work on these businesses and we are very pleased to have her working with us It is an important job and she brings the needed enthusiasm and dedication to the task,” he added DA NNER B O O T S O N S A L E 30% OFF Morrow County Crain Growers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For fa rm « q u ip m t n t . *M t « i r w .b tit« a t WWW m cfg.nat
