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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2008)
Ballots to £0 out Feb 22 Heppner City Council rules on tippage distribution ..... ii , i 1( iii Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library l niversity of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 VOL. 127 NO. 3 10 Pages Wednesday, January 16, 2008 By David Sykes Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Morrow County School District earns highest level on audit report By April Sykes The Morrow County School D istrict, at th eir regular m eeting M onday night at Heppner Elemen tary School, learned from Robert Armstrong o f Oster Professional Group, Certi fied Public Accountants, that the district received an ‘‘un qualified opinion,” which is the highest level, on its audit report. As a result, he said, the district received no management letter. Armstrong told the board that O s te r’s audit o f the d istric t’s financial statem ents did not reveal any noncom pliance, and did not identify any signifi cant deficiencies in internal control over major federal programs. Armstrong said that as the result o f new auditing standards, O ster did note one “significant deficiency in internal control over fi nancial reporting”, related to the district’s inability to prepare the GAAP (govern ment auditing standards) financial statement. “Other than that, it was a wonderful audit,” said Armstrong. He told the board that the district had sev eral options with regard to the deficiency. One option would be to hire someone within the district to prepare the financial statement; an other would be to hire an other independent CPA firm; with the third option being to “keep things where they are,” said Armstrong. According to the au dit report, the district had $33,165,236 in total assets as o f June 30, 2007, com pared to $34,198,062 as of June 30,2006; $26,433,917 in total lia b ilities, com pared to $28,579,607 last year; and $6,731,319 in total net assets, compared to $5,618,455 last year. T he rep o rt stated that the district's net assets increased by $1.1 million with property tax revenues d ecreasing by about $.2 million; state revenues in creasing by about $.9 mil lion; other state, local and special programs’ revenues increasing approxim ately $.6 million and expenditures for instruction and support services increasing by $.7 million. The audit noted that the d istrict had invested $20.5 m illion in capital assets as of June 30, 2007, and had $26 million in total bonded dept consisting of general obligation bonds and pension bonds. The audit report stated that the State School Fund provided 50 percent o f the district’s program resources for the year. The report also not ed that the district spent $9,194,800 for instruction for regular program s and $3,337,219 for special pro grams; $408,313 in student support services; $500,014 in instructional staff sup port se rv ic e s; $ 449,593 for general administration; $1,564,534 for school ad ministration; $3,712,015 for business serv ices; $336,109 for central support services; $219,854 for the supple mental retirement program; $894,451 for food serv ices; $2,184 for community ser- vices;$247,552 for facilities construction and improve ment; and $3,607,816 for debt service. Total expendi tures were $24,474,544. On the revenue side, the district took in $7,016,845 in taxes; $2,792,155 from “ local sources” ; $92,390 from “intermediate sourc es”; $12,454,718 from the state; $1,595,519 from the federal governm ent; and $2,889 from other sources for $23,954,516 in total revenue. The budget for the 2007 fiscal year shows $26.5 million in total appropria tions, compared to $28.7 the prior year, “primarily due to a $.5 million decrease in capital projects and a $1.7 million decrease in bonded debt,” according to the re port. Also at the meeting, the board: -h e a rd from d is trict Superintendent Mark Burrows that the district’s grow th has slowed. “ En rollment numbers have flat tened,” said Burrows. “The projected growth of five per cent, w e’re just not seeing,” he said. The district reported 2192 students district-wide as o f January 2, but figures are now back up to 2227, he said. As o f the January 2 report, A.C. Houghton Elem entary, Irrigon (pre kindergarten through grade four)-335; Heppner Elemen tary School (kindergarten through grade six)-185; Hep pner High School (grades seven through 12)-225; Ir rigon Elem entary School ( grades five-six)-125; Ir rigon High School (grades seven-12 w ith one sixth grader)-312; Riverside High School, Boardman (grades seven th ro u g h 12)-3 88; Sam Boardman Elementary (grades kindergarten through three)-304; Windy River El ementary, (Boardman )-222; Morrow Education Center (M orrow C ounty School District)-22; MEC (Umatilla Service D istrict)-74. The board has scheduled a work session to revlew enrollment and infrastructure. -approved a resolu tion to spend $10,000 in unanticipated revenue for an advanced placement grant. The monies w ill be used for instruction and staff' devel opment at Riverside High School. Continued on Page two ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. The Heppner City Coun cil Monday night approved a resolution spelling oMt how it would handle a large influx o f new money if a tippage fee resolution is ap proved by voters in the next election. The city and the county had been w rangling over who should control close to $1 m illion in tippage money, or money received from dumping fees at the large Finley Buttes Landfill in Morrow County. Five cities in the county had banded together and placed a ballot measure on the March election that would eventually redistrib ute 75 percent of the money from the county general fund to the cities. Several meetings and ne gotiating sessions had been held but no compromise was reached. The cities had said they would take the issue to the voters if they were un able to reach an agreement with the county. Recently they followed through on that threat, and, according to the county clerk, the ballots should be mailed out around Feb. 22. Voters will have until March 11 to vote. If approved by voters b eginning in fiscal year 2008-2009 the ordinance would require the county to give up 25 percent o f the tippage fees to cities. In 2009-2010 that would jum p to 50 percent and in 2010-2011 it would top out at 75 percent. The ordinance stipulates that the cities’ portion will be divided in half, w ith one half the funds divided equally among the cities, and the other half divided according to voter precinct population. Based on current voter reg istratio n the H eppner G azette-T im es com piled the below table showing the approxim ate am ount each city will receive over the next three years, based on a tippage income o f $1 m illion do llars. Tippage income and voter registra tion could go up or down so the below figures are only an approximation based on today's figures. Morrow County $12,000; County Fair $30,000; Wild life Serv ices $25,016; Water blaster $7,246; Soil & Wa ter C onservation D istrict $35,000; Extension Serv ice $ 8 2,723; Irrigon Board- man Em ergency Services $12,000; and N eeds and Issues $235,000. Tallman said if the county loses 75 percent of the tip- page m oney it would be impossible to fund all the current county serv ices. He indicated it would be up to the budget committee to de cide which county serv ices to fund and which to cut. Concerns have arisen that people and organizations from unincorporated areas o f the county would not be represented in budgets and funding if the tippage money were shifted from the county to the cities. The cities group has tried to al leviate those concerns say ing they would make sure it is spent throughout their “communities” and not just w ithin the city limits. To ad dress the concerns of people outside the city limits, the Heppner City Council held a special meeting Jan.3 to address the handling o f the tippage money. Several concepts in dis tribution o f funds were dis cussed including concerns that g ro u p s such as the Heppner Day Care and the Neighborhood Center, which currently receive funds from the county, would lose the money and the cities should pick up the funding. At the special meet ing M ayor Les Paustian said that the Neighborhood Center and Day Care Center are South Morrow County projects and he wants to ensure that these are funded fairly am ong lone, Lex ington, and Heppner if the money is received and that the projects are not going to be dropped. A resolution worked out at the special meeting was approved at Monday's council meeting. The resolution states that a five person committee shall be appointed by the city of Heppner council to award the tippage fees. At least two of the appointees must monies shall not be limited to those entities operating solely within the city limits proper, but shall be limited to those entities whose ac tivities are for the "public benefit” . “Public benefit” includes but is not limited to, purposes designed to educate, prov ide health care, public safety, recreation, youth programs, transporta tion, and serv ices to senior citizens. The resolution also stat ed that organizations and groups shall make applica tion to received tippage funds, and that city could be one o f those groups. The resolution also stated in part, that "It is the expec tation that these funds will be spent for the creation, developm ent, expansion, enhancement o f facilities, p ro g ram s, and s e rv ic e s within the voting districts o f the Heppner area.” While the resolution does cover some o f the concerns o f people in the Heppner “area” about tippage fee distribution, it covers only the Heppner portion o f the funds. How o th e r c itie s distribute those funds is up to each individual city council. O th er business In other business at Mon day's Council meeting: The council accepted the resignation o f councilman George Koffler. Koffler has sold his home in Heppner and is moving outside the city limits. The city w ill be taking applications o f citi zens interested in serving on the council. The city settled up a law suit with Moore Excavation, contractor on the city's wa ter renovation project. The city and Moore had been at odds over certain portions of the work done on the proj ect. Under the agreement the city will release $58,000 in retained payments, plus pay Moore an additional $37,000. The council signed a lease agreement with J im Dick enson for the office space (formally the dentist office) behind city hall). Dickenson plans to use the office for a chiropractic office and will pay the city $450 per month. 1st y e a r B o a r d m a n 2 3 .3 8 % H e p p n e r 2 6 .7 8 % l o n e 8 .8 6 % I r r ig o n 3 3 .2 2 L e x i n g t o n 7 .7 6 % 1 2 5 ,0 0 0 /5 25,000 25,000 25,000 25,000 25,000 1 2 5 .0 0 0 * p e r c e n t 29.225 33,475 11,075 41,525 9,700 T o t a l: 54,225 58,474 36,075 66,625 34.700 50,000 2nd year 2 5 0 . 0 0 0 /5 50.000 50,000 50,000 . 50,000 2 5 0 .0 0 0 * p e r c e n t 58.450 66.9 5 0 22.150 83.050 19,400 T o t a l: 108,450 116,950 72.150 133,050 69,400 3rd year 3 7 5 . 0 0 0 /5 75,000 75.000 75,000 75.000 75.000 3 7 5 ,0 0 0 * p e r c e n t 87,675 100,425 33.225 124.575 29.100 T o t a l: 162,675 175,425 108.225 199,575 104,100 A pproxim ate breakdow n Currently $990,000 in yearly tippage money goes directly into the county general fund and is not earmarked for any particular programs, how ever earlier County Judge Terry Tallman provided a list o f what he considered “community” expenditures to the Heppner Gazette. The spending included: Neigh borhood C enter in South of tippage money to cities reside outside the city limits but within the area consid ered "the Heppner area.” Members o f the committee w ill serve one year and w ill serve at the pleasure of the city council. The resolution stated that the tippage money will be kept as a separate city fund and that distribution o f any Corps plans open house The US Army Corps nof Engineers plans on holding an open house sometime in February concerning the proposed long-tern contract with the local irrigation dis trict. The Corps said a firm date will be set later. The notice w ill be printed in the Gazette-Times. 1 0% O F F P A R T S | A N D LA B O R m2f) through February, 2008 CUE] Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 * 1-800-452-7396 For f»rm equipment, visit our web site at www meggnet
