SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 19,2006
*
Elect
Oregon Brand Department in financial dilemma
★
K en G rie b
M orrow C o u n ty C o m m issio n e r
“
Working for ALL of Morrow County ”
Morrow County Grain Growers’ Board
Morrow County Wheat Growers’ President 1999
& 2000
Oregon Wheat Growers’ League President 2003
Morrow County Soil & Water Conservation District
1998- Present
Morrow County Planning Commission 1997-Present
Morrow County School District Advisory Committee
1999- 2003
Lobby wheat issues at State and National level
SMART reading volunteer, Heppner Elementary School
Oregon Wheat Foundation Board
lone Community Agri-Business Organization
North Morrow Vector Control District
National Association of Wheat Growers’ Budget Com
mittee
Morrow County School District Ag Science Advisory
Committee
OSU Extension Advisory Committee
Morrow County Pre-Disaster Mitigation Committee
K e n G rie b
Leadership for Morrow County
Paid for by Elect Grieb Committee
C U ST O M
BA N N ER S
H eppner
G a z e tte -T im e s
We Print
Business Cards
Heppner G azette
676-9228
Would you take two
hours and drive fifty miles to
earn $17.50? Would you
provide and pay an employee
from 7 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.
to earn $75? Would you pay
an employee to do nothing
and earn nothing for two
h o u rs? W ell, no, you
w o u ld n ’t. But you do.
T h ro u g h
our
brand
registrations and fees we are
helping pay for all of these
money-losing activities. And
what if you had to pay 44 Vi
cents per mile for the vehicle
the employee drives and pay
the employee $ 10.50 an hour
or more? Let’s see, $10.50
loaded equals about $ 15 and
fifty miles at 44 Vi cents per
mile equals about $22. That
$ 1 7 .5 0 you earn ed cost
about $52. So, how long can
this business model last?
By
the
latest
e stim a te s,
Brand
Department officials say it
can last until about January
2007. Without changes in
program, income, or both,
the Brand Department will
be broke. And since the
Brand Department is a user-
funded program within the
O regon D ep artm en t o f
Agriculture, there will be no
bailout. The departm ent
would simply close its doors.
And, you might ask, who is
responsible for this go-broke
endeavor? You could blame
management, but you would
be wrong. You could blame
inept
e m p lo y ees
or
supervisors but, again, you’d
be w rong. O ver the past
dozen y ears the B rand
Department has become a
lean, cost-conscious, labor
conscious, w ell-m anaged
operation. If you want to
blame anyone, you should
blame us all, and the cost of
labor and the cost of fuel and
vehicles and the cost of
S T O R E CLOSING
Every Item Is On Sale!
su p p lie s and ren t and
everything else that is needed
to run a business.
We ask the brand
inspector to come out 20
miles and inspect two horses
at $3.75 each. The inspector
charges us the $7.50 plus the
$10 service charge and the
b ran d d e p artm en t lo ses
about $10. We ask the brand
inspector to hang around
until the last load of three
cull cows arrives at the sale
yard at 3:15 p.m. The fee is
$2.25 and we paid the
in sp e c to r $30 to stan d
aro u n d fo r tw o ho u rs
waiting for those three cows.
In 2000, about 1,250,000
c attle w ere in sp ected in
Oregon at 75 cents per head.
In 2005, about 1,100,000
cattle were inspected at the
same rate. That decrease of
150,000 head cost the Brand
Department about $ 112,500.
But the actual number of
inspections d id n ’t change
much. There were fewer
animals inspected per visit
but the number of trips and
hours rem ained about the
same. So costs increased and
revenue dropped. (It’s about
the same as when the market
goes down year after year
but your costs per cow keep
go in g up.) In 2000, the
reimbursement for a brand
inspector to drive his own
vehicle was about 31 cents
per mile. The latest figure is
44 Vi cents per mile.
Okay, you say rather
grudgingly, raise the per
head fee a little and wring
out more excess. As with
ev ery th in g , i t ’s not that
simple. The per head fee at
75 cents is at the ceiling
authorized by the legislature.
L ik ew ise w ith the $10
service fee, the various horse
in sp ectio n fees, and the
b ran d re g istra tio n and
renewal fees. An increase in
any of these fees will require
new leg islatio n , and the
legislature doesn’t meet until
2 007. In the end, a fte r
poking and prodding, and
w o rry in g ev ery fee and
number (kind of like getting
tangled up in a big cobweb)
the p ro b le m ’s so lu tio n
resolves into two parts.
Part one is a plan to
keep the department solvent
through the 2007 legislative
session. Part two is to devise
a plan that will place the
d e p artm en t on a sound
fin a n c ia l base fo r the
foreseeable future and to ask
for legislation to implement
the plan.
A b o u t the only
income producing measure
th a t can be taken now,
w ithout legislation, is to
implement an administrative
rule that will assess a time
and mileage charge on field
in sp e c tio n s. The B rand
A dvisory C om m ittee has
recom m ended that a $15
time and mileage charge on
each field in sp ectio n be
adopted by rule as an interim
measure. The charge would
beg in as soon as the
administrative rule process
can be completed, probably
in about 90 days. Brand
Department officials predict
that the $15 charge w ill
allow the d ep artm en t to
c o n tin u e to p erfo rm its
function through the 2007
legislative session. Along
with the $15 charge, the six
salaried, full tim e brand
supervisors stationed around
the State will be directed to
perform as many inspections
as possible by themselves.
This measure will take full
advantage of the salaried
supervisor’s time and save
the cost of using a part time,
hourly employee and paying
m ileag e
on
those
inspections. Additionally, the
two investigators will be
d ire c te d to sto p p atro l
a c tiv itie s. T h ese th ree
measures will constitute part
one.
So,
w ith
the
program shored up by the
$15 charge and the other
economies, the department
and the industry will be able
to d ire c t energy tow ard
formulating a plan, and the
necessary leg islatio n , to
place the department on a
Sheriff’s Report
sound financial base for the
future. The components of
that plan (part two) are open
fo r d iscu ssio n .
Som e
possible pieces might be:
R aise the ceilin g on the
various fees to allow more
flexibility; Reformulate the
h o rse p ro g ram ; In itiate
su rc h arg e s; C h an g e the
estray rules; Change staffing
levels; Get funding for the
investigators from the State
Police budget; Review every
facet of the program; Ask the
legislature to fund a portion
o f the brand departm ent’s
co st; and D iscu ss and
evaluate “outside the box”
ideas.
The goal o f the
Brand Department and of
the
B rand
A d v iso ry
C om m ittee is to retain a
v iab le
and
e ffe ctiv e
in sp ec tio n pro g ram as
economically as possible.
P lease com m ent.
O ur b ran d pro g ram has
helped our animals and our
livelihoods for over 80 years.
We need to keep it viable
into the future for animal
id e n tific a tio n ,
d isease
traceback, age and source
v e rific a tio n , the ev er
increasing need to know
more about our animals, and
w hatever other new stuff
shows up, confounding our
ability to be successful in an
ever changing industry.
-M C SO
cite d
The Morrow County
Thomas
Jeffery
Leiferman,
Sheriff’s Office reports han
dling the following business: 30, for V iolation o f the
Speed Limit, 82 mph in a 65
A p ril 15: BPD mph zone.
-MCSO cited David
issued a citation to Dana Jo
Zirpoli,
35, for Violation of
Willis, 42, for driving while
the
Speed
Limit, 87 mph in
suspended and failing to
a
65
mph
zone.
prove vehicle registration.
-MCSO cited Adria
Arley Jay Hamilton, 47, was
Sum
i
L ay n e, 20, fo r
cited for Failure to Register
Violation
of the Speed Limit,
V ehicle/Sw itch Plate and
89
mph
in
a 65 mph zone.
P e rm ittin g
U n law fu l
-MCSO cited Troy
Operation of a Vehicle.
Thom
as
Lam ont, 35, for
A p ril 16: M CSO
Violation
of
the Speed Limit,
cited Deborah Anne Cronk,
83
mph
in
a
65 mph zone.
58, was cited for Violation
-M
C
SO
cited
of the Speed Limit, 88 mph
Temaleti Volav Vakaloloma,
in a 65 mph zone.
-MCSO cited Peter 46, for Violation of the Basic
G raham K lym , 19, for Rule, 78 mph in a 55 mph
Violation of the Speed Limit, zone.
-Boardman PD arrested
84 mph in a 65 mph zone.
-MCSO received a Ernesto Gomez, 23, for
report that the neighbor’s pit D U II(B A C . 19), Violation
bull bit a lady twice. Kristi of the Basic Rule, 50 mph
Dawn Rogers, 29, was cited in a 20 mph zone, and No
for Maintaining a Dog as a Operator’s License.
Public Nuisance.
-M C SO
cited
Births
Edward Joseph Meyers, 48,
M a tth e w G le n n
for Violation of the Basic
Rule, 84 mph in a 55 mph W rig h t- a son, M atthew
Glenn, was bom April 13,
zone.
-M C SO
cite d 2006 to Brent and Nadia
of
B end.
Manuel A. Reyes Alarcon, W right
29, for V iolation o f the Grandparents are Nadezda
Speed Limit, 82 mph in a 65 and Jarda Rohlik of Paterltil,
Czech Republic, Judy Knight
mph zone.
-MCSO cited Rafael of Bend and Kenny Wright
Cansino, 24, for Violation of of Bakersfield, CA. Great-
the Speed Limit, 93 mph in grandparents are Lenna and
Glenn Smith of Heppner and
a 65 mph zone.
Mary Wright of Newberg.
M ember FDIC
Custom er Appreciation bay!
***
EXTRA DISCOUNTS END
SATURDAY, APRIL 22nd
STORE HOURS
9:00 to 6:00
MON. to SAT.
Closed Sundays
HEPPNER HARDWARE
106 MAY STREET
HEPPNER, OR 97836
0
Come into the bank on April 21, 2006, and get a
free Car Wash Coupon - then take time to let the
Heppner High School Football Team wash
that grit and grime from your automobile!
(BEO is making a $500 donation to the team!)
(Here's your chance to watch them perform off the field!)
Time: Between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
Car Wash Area: Drive Thru side of the Bank
And every Friday in April,
the bank will have free
cookies and coffee, too!!”