MCHD approves proposed $5.8
million budget
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VOL. 124
NO. 17
,
12 Pages
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Wednesday, April 27, 2005
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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
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