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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 11, 2009)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 11,2009 - SEVEN School district to offer early retirement, implements staff/student ratios to cut costs -Continued from Page ONE e m e n ta ry S ch o o l would stay static and would not lose any teachers. Hep pner High School would lose one teacher. Windy River Elementary in Board- man would also stay static; Sam Boardman Elementary would gain one teacher; and Riverside High School in B oardm an w ould lose a half of a teaching position. In lrrigon, A.C. Houghton Elementary School would lose two teaching positions; lrrigon Elementary would lose half o f a teaching po sition; and lrrigon High School would lose two po sitions. “ E veryone’s ju st going to have to squeeze down,” said board member Pat McNamee. D istrict w ide, the plan would result in a cut o f five teachers, from 138 currently to 133. HES currently has a teacher/student ratio of one to 21 with 12 teachers, w hich is recom m ended; HHS has a ratio o f one to 20 w ith 16 teachers, compared to 15 recommended; WRE has a ratio o f one to 21 with 14.5 current and recom mended; SBE has a ratio of one to 22 with 20.5 cur rent to 21.5 recommended; RHS has a ratio o f one to 21 with 24 current to 23.5 recommended; ACH has a ratio o f one to 19 with 23 current to 21 recommended; IES has a ratio o f one to 19 with 7.5 current to seven recommended; and IHS has a ratio o f one to 19 with 20.5 current to 18.5 recom mended. The formula is based on a num ber o f factors, including: the num ber o f special education students in each school, the number o f English language learner students in each school, if the school has small school status, the number o f stu dents in each school eligible for free and reduced lunch es, the number o f migrant students and each school’s student population. The staffing formula Petra Payne, Jean Strange and Dieter Waite. -received the follow ing 2009-10 school calendar options for board action at a later date: Option A-pre Labor Day start, M onday, A u gust 31, with two weeks at Christmas, Dec. 17-Jan. 4, and s tu d e n ts e n d in g Wednesday, June 9; Option B -post L abor Day start, Tuesday, September 8, with two w eeks at C hristm as, Dec. 17-Jan. 4, and students ending Wednesday, June 16; O ption C -pre-L abor Day start, Monday, August 31, with one and a half weeks at Christmas, Dec. 23-Jan 4, and students ending Fri day, June 4; Option D-post- Labor Day start, Tuesday, September 8, with one and a half weeks at Christmas, Dec. 23-Jan. 4, and students ending Thursday, June 10. District employees are g en erally polled for their preference, but board m em ber B arney Lindsay requested that parents be polled as well. It was not determined if or how that could be conducted. Bur rows said that although he usually prefers a post-Labor Day start, but because Labor Day is late this year, Mon day, September 7, he favors a pre-Labor Day start. -learned that a PAC co m m ittee has been e s tablished for the district’s also recommends an educa tional assistant ratio o f one assistant to each 40 students at the elementary level and a ratio of one assistant to each 50 students at the secondary level. In other business at the meeting the board: -heard reports from school administrators con cerning their plans to help encourage students to meet their benchmarks. -approved licensed staff renewals and exten sions for the 2009-10 school year. In Heppner schools (H eppner sch o o ls listed only), the following 2008- 09 probationary teachers will receive contracts for the 2009-10 year: HHS-Joe Lindsay, music; Beth Dick enson, vo-ag; Troy Morgan, math; HES-Michele Stone, second grade music. Also recommended were David Norton, HES/HHS, two year teacher for 2009-10; Wendy C annin, HHS m ath/busi- ness, three year teacher; and Andrea Nelson, HHS lan guage arts. Contract teachers recommended for extension include: H ES-Jannie A l len, Karen Clough, Melissa Coiner, Pam Dowdy, Mary Ann Elguezabal, Sue Gibbs, Mary Haguewood, Sherry Matteson, Sharon Morris, Molly Rill and Karen Smith Griffith; HHS-Jean Collins, Mark Dowdy, John Flaherty, Dave Fowler, Terri Gentry, Greg Grant, Jason Palmer, upcoming local option tax consisting o f Larry Mills, Heppner, Barbara Huwe, lrrigon, Carmen Velasco, B oardm an, and L isanne Currin, Heppner, treasurer. -accepted the fo l lowing resignations/retire- ments: David Boor, RHS assistant football coach; and Clair C ostello, R iverside Junior High School head football coach. -approved the fol low ing term ination: J e ff W hitbeck, ACH assistant custodian. -approved the fol lowing extra duty contracts: Kyle Carpenter, RHS as sistant baseball coach; and Rebecca Renfro, RHS tennis coach. -held an executive session. -viewed a presenta tion on the Bal-A -V is-X program which incorporates balance, auditory, vision and exercise aspects using ball bouncing activities. -heard the s u p e r intendent’s and principals’ reports. -received the fo l low ing a n n o u n cem en ts: March 19-deadline to file for open district positions, end o f third nine weeks; March 23-27-spring break; April 4-local option meet ing, RHS, 10 a.m.; April 11-local option m eeting, ACH; April 13-next board meeting, WRE, 7 p.m. HHS announces Heppner High School recently announced their February Students of the Month. The character trait for February was diligence. Pictured from left to right are: Marie Owen (7,h grade), Justin Pranger (9'h grade), Tessa Gould (8,h grade), Lacie Wagoner (1 l ,h grade), Josh Shank (12,h grade), and Jareid Miller ( I0,h grade). -Contributed Photo shocks ! & smunsi BRAKE SYMPTOMS TO WATER FOR: Da your brakes grab? Do your brakes squeal when you step oo the pedal? Then it is time to have your ride control inspected. We use the finest parts and have the latest equipment. We service domestic/import cars and trucks. SHOCKS: ► VFHICU SHIMMY/SWAY PROMPT A I OF —► IMF CUPPIMB S D te k In s ta lla tio n E x tra STRUT CARTRIDGES Does your vehicle pull wheo you apply the brakes? ROAD RYDER O w M o tt Popular PaaatM orC ar Application Do you hear a griodiog ooise wheo you step oo the brakes? ROAD RYDER SUPREME \ Our Boat 6ASCHARGED P a m n jt r Car Shock with a Lllotla w Warranty Is your brake pedal spoogy or maybe too hard? PKkap Stock (?W0aaC COT) /ta o T iHP MEHMim ’ ALIGNMENT ; FREE BRAKE IKSPECIIBNS (ON M OST VEHICLES) El B " STANDARD AUBRMEMT +» VFHICU rotuno -► VFHICU WAHHFOIHO { -----gc — ► RHF OHHHIOFO WUH THRUST ALIGNMENT Then it It timi te k e n your vekiclft alignment checked We use Ike ttnest 4 WHEEL ALIGNMENT service domestic/import c a n and kecks. m «P | ffP Les Schwab Tire Center Water rates to increase $1 per month By David Sykes The Heppner city council approved a plan Monday to meet the city’s water reconstruction project debt, and still raise water rates by only $1 per month. The city’s utility commission has been wrestling w ith the problem o f how' to handle the city's $ 130,000 an nual water project debt payment (incurred when the city overhauled the water system several years ago), and still keep rate increases to a minimum. At last month’s meeting the council had talked about raising rates $4 per month immediately and another $4 in six months. Monday Utility Commission member Tom Wolff, who spent some time analyzing the city’s debt obligations as well as water and sewer income, outlined a plan that would keep rate increase substantially below that and still pay the city’s debt. Briefly the plan calls for using accumulated funds to pay off an existing sewer rehabilita tion loan w ith the Bank o f Eastern Oregon and use income previously used to repay that loan, to begin paying down the city’s $130,000 per year water project debt. The debt is a 30 year obligation but drops to $ 119,000 per year after the first 10 year’s o f payment. For a complete outline o f the plan see box below. An Alternative Solution to the Water Debt Payment Program (by Tom Wolff) This solution would not require a rate increase to meet the Water Project Debt payments. 1. As of July 1a, 2009, the balance of accumulated value (and cash) in the Debt Service Fund is expected to be $251,891.87. This value has been built by transfers from the Water Fund, Sew er Fund, and from the Gen eral Fund to meet expected debt payments. 2. The city has paid-off all old bonded indebtedness except for the new Water Project debt. The City Hall loan pays monthly, and the Sewer Loan debt is a general obligation of the city with no dedicated funds reserved to pay it. Balances in the Debt Service Fund labeled as belonging to the “Sew er Fund” can be thought of as left-over from prior Sewer Dept, bonded debt. Using the v alues as outlined, my recommendation is to: 3. On July 1st, 2009, use the accumulated cash in the Debt Service Fund (account) and pay-off the new BEO Sewer Loan in full = $213,676.31 plus about $7,678.99 in accrued interest for a total of $221,355.30. 4. Re-direct the $8.90 collected each month on the utility invoices (now labeled “Sewer Bond", even though there is not a Sewer Bond in existence anymore) and apply $8.00 of it to the Debt Service Fund to meet the future needs of the Water Project debt payments. (This value, although labeled “Sewer Bond" on the monthly invoices, is just additional monies collected by the City each month, and had no legal or restricted ties.) 5. Apply the $.90 to the Reserve fo r Maintenance. Repairs, and Unknown Contingencies Fund for the utility dept, (combined Water and Sewer Funds). 6. The remaining balance in the Debt Serv ice Fund at 07- 02-2009 of $30,536.57 ($251,891.87 -$213,676.31), plus five (5) months of the $8.00 accumulation ($27,600), plus the five (5) months of the currently afforded $70,000 Debt Service budgeted transfers ($29,166.67), plus a re-direct of the first five (5) months of the currently afforded $55,000 Reserve for Maintenance line item to the Debt Serv ice Transfers ($43,400.00) would prov ide the cash (and spending authority) to meet the December 2009 Water Project Debt payment of $ 130,701.11. 7. This scenario allows for very adequate cash-flow to meet the future needs of the Water Project debt pay ment stream. 8. It does cut the 2009-2010 funding of the Reserve fo r Maintenance. Repairs, and Unknown Contingencies Fund very short for this one-year period. 9. I would further propose the Council authorize a $ 1.00 increase in the fixed portion of the Water Rates, and dedicate that $ 1.00 increase to the Reserve fo r Main tenance. Repairs, and Unknown Contingencies Fund and require that monthly transfers of the actual cash be made to the separate and distinct said Reserve Fund bank account. City officials said Monday the $8.90 collected on city water bills each month labeled “sewer bond" has been incorrectly labeled on the bills. The money was actually being used to pay off'a Bank of Eastern Oregon loan that the city took out several years ago to refinance the original sewer bond. Officials said the water bills would be cor rected in the future. AFFORDABLE FULL COLOR PRINTING Flyers * THE HEPPNER GAZETTE 188 IV. Willow * Heppner, Oregon ( 5 4 1 ) 6 7 6 -9 2 2 8 124 North Main Street, Heppner • 676-9481 ♦ L e tte rh e a d * Brochures Business Cards david@rapidserve.net i *
