School district to receives nearly $200,000 less
in taxes than assessor originally estimates
II.L L .I.U II... Il,I,..Il
Bessie Wetzel I Newspaper Library
University of Oregon
Eugene. OR 97403
By April Sykes
M orrow C ounty
Assessor Greg Sweek ap
peared before the M or
row County School Board
February 8 to explain the
discrepancy between his es
timate as to what the district
might have received in local
option taxes and the amount
HEPPNER
Veronica Cortez, a math teacher at Riverside High School, uses
a promethean board to teach Algebra II. -ContributedPhoto
im e s
VOL. 129
NO. 7 10 Pages
Wednesday, February 17,2010
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Economic development
group holds annual meeting
The Willow Creek nesses and services such as
Valley Economic Develop the $750,000 investment
ment Group (WCVEDG) at the hospital in its nurs
held its annual meeting last ing home facilities, the
Thursday and elected Da construction of the Willow
vid Sykes as president for Creek Terrance Assisted
2010. Sykes was president Living Center, and now the
in 2009 as well. The group Lakeview Heights Secure
also elected board members Residential Treatment Fa
including George Koffler, cility (SRTF). WCVEDG
Ed Rollins of the Bank of hopes to study this trend
Eastern O regon, Nancy and determine if there may
Snider of Wheatland Insur be other types of compat
ance, Dave DeMayo Hep ible or spin off businesses
pner City manager, Mike that may provide related
Blauer, Morrow County economic development for
Health District administra the area.
tor and Marcia Kemp of the
As an example of
US Forest Service. Sykes is the positive economic con
the owner of the Heppner tribution to the community
Gazette-Times Newspaper the SRTF will be employing
and Sykes Real Estate in 21 people when it opens
Heppner.
next month, and the Mor
The guest speaker row County Health District,
at the meeting, which was Pioneer Memorial Hospital
held in conjunction with and Nursing Home, and the
the Heppner Chamber of clinic, are major employers
Commerce weekly meet in the area.
ing, was Matt Bergstrom,
Sykes said WC
administrator of the new VEDG has in the past spent
Secure Residential Treat a lot of time and effort try
ment Facility in Heppner. ing to attract businesses to
The lunch meeting attracted the South Morrow Industri
about 50 people and was al Park (former Kinzua Mill
held at the St. Patrick’s site) without much luck. He
Senior Center.
said the group is not giving
Sykes went over up trying to find manufac
WCVEDG’s accomplish turing or other businesses
ment the past year and to locate there, but perhaps
we sh o u ld now
also its goals for the
look at the trend
com ing year. Last
developing in the
year the .group se
“care giver” type
cured over $7,000 in
of businesses and
work force training
serv ices in th is
funds which it gave
area, he said. “We
to the medical dis
want to do what
trict to use in training
we can to encour
medical personnel.
David Sykes
age and help the
WCVEDG has al elected
existing care giver
ready obtained over president
businesses be suc
$14,000 in w ork
cessful, but also
force training funds
for the coming year, Sykes look for others that might
said, but how the training complement them,” Sykes
money will be allocated has told the gathered crowd.
One of the achieve
not yet been determined.
Sykes praised WC ments o f WCVEDG last
VEDG’s executive director year was to launch a web
Sheryll Bates for her efforts site with information and
in working with the work contacts about the industrial
force training agency in se park for someone who may
curing both last year’s and be looking for a place to
the coming year’s funding. locate a manufacturing or
In laying out the other type of business.
A nother accom
group’s goals, Sykes said
over the past several years plishment of the group w as
the Heppner area has seen the completion of strategic
an increase in investment plans for all three commu
in “care giver” type busi nities in the valley, Hep
tz>
pner, Lexington and lone.
Bates again worked with
CAPECO (a regional eco
nomic development group
out o f Pendleton) which
met numerous times with
member of each community
to formulate the plans. “The
plans help com munities
crystallize where they want
to go in the future,” Sykes
said about the benefits of
strategic plans. As a goal for
the coming year WCVEDG
hopes to do another plan
linking the common inter
ests of the three communi
ties in the valley and how
they may work together to
accomplish positive things
which benefit the whole
Willow Creek Valley.
A nother goal o f
WCVEDG for the coming
year will be to encourage
construction of some rental
housing in Heppner. Almost
everyone acknowledges
that there is a shortage of
adequate rental housing,
especially two and three
bedrooms, in the Heppner
area. George Koffler will
be heading up a commit
tee to continue looking for
solutions to the problem,
including a possible inves
tors group that could build
a duplex or tri-plex.
WCVEDG is also
looking into how it might
help local people obtain
some of the good paying
jobs opening up in the w ind
generation business devel
oping in the lone area. There
is a wind technician training
program at Columbia Gorge
Community College in The
Dalles, and Blue Mountain
Community College is in
vestigating whether it might
partner with the college
and provide long distance
training or other services to
offer the training. The w ind
technician certification is
a two-year program with
both classroom and hands
on training taking care of
windmills. There are sev
eral large windmill opera
tions either in construction
or already operating in the
lone area of south Morrow
County. WCVEDG has at
tended meetings about the
training and will see what
it can do to help.
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M O N D A Y S AT 5:00 P.M.
of taxes they would actually
receive.
Sw eek to ld the
board and Superintendent
Mark Burrows that outdat
ed software contributed to
the difference in calculating
monies lost to compression.
He said that he estimated
compression by code area
which would have resulted
in a gain of $540,000 for
the district through the lo
cal option tax. If he had
been able to estimate the
compression loss by “ac
count extension”, it would
have shown that the district
would actually gamer only
$365,000. If not for com
pression, the school district
would have received $1
million from the local op
tion tax. Compression is
a cap on the amount that
taxpayers pay.
Sweek said that
it would probably take a
minimum of $200,000 for
the assessor’s office for
purchase of the software
equipment and conversion.
He said the conversion
would probably be the more
expensive of the two. He
said he has spoken w ith the
Morrow County Court and
is starting to look at systems
and is planning site visits
to look at other counties’
systems. He said he hopes
to have an idea of the type
of system he would like to
purchase and the cost in
volved by budget time.
Also at the meet
ing, Dr. Mark Mulvihill,
Umatilla-Morrow Educa
tion Service District su
perintendent, presented the
2010-2011 local service
plan to the board. UM-
ESD provides programs
for special needs children,
technology support, school
improvement services and
adm inistrative and sup
port services for “com
ponent” school districts,
which means those districts
have contracts for services.
UMESD shows budgeted
expenditures of $5,307,280
for fiscal year 2010 with
proposed expenditures of
$5,825,074 for a $517,794
loss. Local property taxes
comprise $2,807,991 of the
budget and state school sup
port makes up $3,088,987.
For fiscal year 2009, UM
ESD received $2,704,731
in local property taxes and
$3,112,956 in state school
support for $5,817,687 in
income versus $5,682,694
in e x p e n d itu re s for a
$446,775 loss.
T he b o a rd a p
proved the 2010-2011 local
serv ice plans.
Component school
districts, besides Morrow
County School District,
include Athena-W eston,
Echo, Helix, Hermiston,
lone, M ilton-Freewater,
Pendleton, Pilot Rock, Stan
field, Ukiah and Umatilla.
UMESD previous
ly outlined with MCSD a
proposed merger between
UMESD and the Union
Baker ESD.
In other business,
the board:
-presented River
side High School’s state
Outstanding School Award
to Dirk Dirksen. RHS prin
cipal.
-heard from Ray
Michael, pharmacist and
owner of Boardman Phar
macy, who offered his apol
ogy, but said he would not
be able to continue to work
with the district’s pharmacy
insurance plan for employ
ees. “I just can’t continue
-See SCHOOL DISTRICT/
Page SEVEN
■
I
The new Secure Residential Treatment Facility held the first of two open houses
for the public Tuesday. The public was invited to walk around the facility and
there were hors d'oeuvres and staff on hand to answer questions.
Heppner basketball/wrestling teams
to participate in district tournaments
The Heppner boys' and girls’
basketball teams will both head to the
Blue Mountain Conference district play
offs scheduled in Pendleton Friday and
Saturday, February 19 and 20. The wres
tling team will participate in their district
tournament on Friday, February 19, begin
ning at 2 p.m. and Saturday, February 20,
beginning at 10 a.m. in Union.
The basketball district tournament
information is as follows:
Friday, February 19, games are
as follows:
*1 p.m., Girls' game #1-Team 2
vs. Team 3;
‘ approximately 2:45 p.m. Boys’
game #1-Team 2 vs. Team 3;
* 6 p.m., Girls' game #2-Team
4 vs. Team 5;
‘ approximately 7:45 p.m. Team
#1 is protected.
Saturday, February, 20 games
are as follows:
*1 p.m.. Girls' game #3-winner
of game #2 vs. loser of game #1;
*
*approximatelv 2:45 p.m.. Boy’s
game #3-w inner of game #2 vs. loser of
game #1;
*6 p.m.. Girls' game #4-winner
of game #1 vs. team #1;
‘ approximately 7:45 p.m.. Boys’
game #4-winner of game #1 vs. team
# 1 .
The w inner of Saturday's game #4
will be the number-one seed to the state
tournament and will receive the first-place
trophy. The BMC championship banner
will be presented to the league champion.
The loser of Saturday’s game #4
will be the number-two seed to the state
tournament and will receive the second
place trophy.
The winner of Saturday’s game #3
will be the number-three seed to the state
tournament.
Ticket prices are as follows: Per
session: adults-$6, students-$4; Day Pass
(two sessions): adults-$10, students-$7;
Tournament Pass: adults-$18, students-
$ 12 .
Insulated coveralls *
•*
* Stock Tank Deicers *
* Coats *
Electric Heaters *
* Pack Boots *
Winter Clearance Sale 30% OFF
*Also, heated Pet Bowls, Buckets &. Pet Beds *
Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed
242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office)
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