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
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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.
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