Money accumulates
for Enterprise Zone
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Li bran.
Univ ersity of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
VOL. 132
NO, 19 6 Pages
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Long term income topping $21 million
By David Sykes
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Safe
Heppner senior Tessa Gould slides into third base during a double-header with Irrigon.
Heppner won the first game and Irrigon won the second.
Photo by Sandy Matthews
Ballots arrive later
due to postal changes
Election ballots were
mailed from the county
clerk’s May 3 have begun
to in mailboxes throughout
Morrow County. Because
of the change in the postal
system, and how it affects
delivery, it is taking longer
for ballots to arrive in some
areas.
According to the Mor
row County Clerk’s office,
voters need to be aware
that it also takes longer for
the ballots to get back to
the courthouse by May 21.
Drop boxes are available in
several areas of the county
including: Boardman: 101
NW Boardman Ave. at the
morrow County Health
Dept. lone: Spring St., by
community paper boxes. Ir
rigon: 205 NE 3ed St. at the
Irrigon Annex. Lexington:
365 West Hwy. 74, Morrow
County Public Works park
ing lot. Heppner: Morrow
County Courthouse park
ing lot and in the county
clerk’s office.
This election includes
board and district elec
tions.
They include: H ep
pner Rural Fire Protection
D istrict, three directors
with four year terms, lone
Rural Fire Protection Dis
trict, three directors with
four year terms; Boardman
Rural Fire Protection Dis
trict, three directors with
four years terms and one
director with two year term;
Irrigon Rural Fire Protec
tion District, positions 3, 4
and 5 with four year terms;
Morrow County Unified
Recreation District, Zone 1
and 2, with four year terms;
lone Library District, three
directors with four year
terms; Oregon Trail Library
District, positions 3, 4 and
5 with four year terms; Port
of Morrow, positions 1, 2
and 3 with four year terms;
Heppner Cemetery Main
tenance District, two direc
tors with four year terms;
lone Lexington Cemetery
District one director at large
with four year term; Board-
man Cemetery District, two
directors at large with four
year terms; Irrigon Cem
etery Maintenance District.
One director at large with
four year term ; Willow
Creek Park District, two
directors at large with four
year terms; Irrigon Com
munity Park & Recreation
District, positions 1, 5, 3
and 4 with four year terms;
Boardman Park & Recre
ation District, two direc
tors at large with four year
terms; lone School District,
positions 3, 4 and 5 with
four year terms; Morrow
County School District,
positions 2, 6 and 7 with
four year terms; Morrow
County Health D istrict,
positions 1, 2 and 3 with
four year terms; Heppner
Water Control District, two
directors at large with four
year terms.
Terms o f Office start
on June 30 and run for four
years.
If there’s been a vacan
cy in the district, the term
would be the remainder of
the unexpired term, making
it a two-year term.
I
The newly reorganized
Columbia River Enterprise
Zone in North Morrow
County is turning into a
major recipient o f funds
in lieu of taxes, from busi
ness locating at the Port of
Morrow in North Morrow
County. So far the zone has
long-term funding coming
in over the next 15 years
in excess of $21,807,000,
and board members say
with more business looking
to locate there, this money
could be just the tip of the
iceberg.
So far the contributors
are Rackspace, ConAgra
Columbia River Technolo
gies, Columbia Plywood
and ZeaChem. The busi
nesses are negotiating deals
with the Enterprise Zone to
pay “fees” instead of county
taxes on new manufactur
ing and service facilities.
These fees are based on
the amount of development
the company does within
the Enterprise Zone, a 12-
square-mile area encom
passing mainly the Port
of Morrow Industrial park
near Boardman.
The companies locate
in the zone to avoid pay
ing higher property taxes
directly to the county, thus
giving the zone an eco
nomic advantage in attract
ing businesses to the area.
The money, however will
not go through the county
to be divided up among
county taxing districts as
with “normally” collected
property taxes.
In fact the Enterprise
Zone Board o f Directors
has been meeting the past
several months crafting an
IGA, or intergovernmental
agreement, governing how
the funds will be spent. A
draft IGA was passed by
the board at its last meeting
Monday in Boardman, and
sent to the three member
entities o f the Enterprise
Zone, M orrow C ounty
Court, City o f Boardman
City Council, and Port of
Morrow Board of Directors
for their approval.
The Enterprise Board
is made up of two members
from each entity, and they
will be deciding, within
Oregon State law, how to
spend the collected mon
ey.
Concern was voiced
at one meeting that two of
entities might dominate the
other entity when decid
ing which special districts
receive funding. O f the
six members of the board,
a simple majority of four
is required to approve dis
bursing money, however
further negotiations among
board members inserted a
requirement into the IGA
that one member of each
entity must vote in favor of
a requested project for its
approval.
At Monday’s meeting,
the board received a letter
from Cyde Estes chairman
of the Morrow County Uni
fied Recreation District,
asking the Enterprise Board
to “invite all taxing districts
in the Columbia Enterprise
Zone II boundary to an in
formational meeting prior
to ratification of the IGA”.
The recreation district, as
with several other districts
such as the medical district
and the school district, over
lap the Enterprise Zone.
Estes emphasized that
the recreation district is
not opposed to enterprise
agreements with business
es, but said “one o f our
primary concerns is that the
agreement does not appear
to ensure representation
for us and other districts
within the zone. As elected
officials we would like you
to address our questions
regarding budget, financial
process and audit proce
dures for those who will be
managing the potentially
m illions o f dollars that
will come to the Board of
Directors (Enterprise Zone
board) each year. The draft
agreem ent seem s to be
silent on these issues and
silent on a process of ac
countability to the taxing
districts and to the public,”
her letter said. “It is our sin-
cerest hope that you will al
low us an opportunity to be
heard, to contribute to the
process and to understand
your vision for this inter
governmental agreement,”
she concluded.
The IGA agreement, as
approved by the Enterprise
Board, Monday does not
spell out exactly which
districts will be eligible to
receive funding, but does
say that “recommendations
and requests from affected
Special Districts of poten
tial impacts involving the
service provided by said
Districts, including but not
limited to fire protection
and public safety, may be
considered.” During discus
sion some board members
said funds would probably
go only to taxing districts
that are geographically ad
jacent to the Enterprise
Zone. This would exclude
such taxing districts as the
cities of Irrigon, Heppner,
Lexington and lone from
applying for projects and
funding from the Enterprise
Zone. The IGA agreement
in fact does not spell out the
process districts will use to
apply for funds. The Enter
prise Zone board is appar
ently going to work later on
policies that will flesh out
the eight-page agreement
passed Monday.
The six board members
are appointed by their re
spective entities. Currently
they are:
Morrow County-Leann
Rea, commissioner, Greg
Sweek, assessor; City o f
Boardm an-Sandy Toms,
mayor, Karen Pettigrew,
manager; Port of Morrow-
Don R u ssell, co m m is
sioner, Gary Neal, general
manager.
The following section
was approved by the board
governing the distribution
of money:
“Company paid fees
will be distributed by the
Board with the following
considerations:
• Distribution will be
consistent with company
agreem ents when appli
cable.
• Distribution will be
done at least semi-annu
ally.
• Distribution in future
years does not have to re
flect distribution patterns
set in previous years.
• Distribution will be
carried out by the fiscal
agent based on Order(s)
passed and approved.
Distribution of funds is
only done during a meet
ing that the full board is
represented. In addition to
the above requirement, at
least one affirmative vote
from each entity shall be
required to pass a motion
regarding distribution of
funds. If at least one affir
mative vote is not cast from
each entity and the motion
CONTINUED Page 2
Precipitation now almost four
inches below normal for year
According
to
preliminary data received
by N a tio n a l O c e a n ic
and At mo s p h e r i c
Adm inistration (NOAA)
National Weather Service
in Pendleton, temperatures
at Heppner averaged near
normal during the month
of April.
The
average
te m p e ra tu re w as 49.0
degrees w hich was 0.0
degrees below normal. High
T em peratures averaged
61.4 degrees, which was 0.5
degrees above normal. The
highest was 79 degrees on
April 27. Low temperatures
averaged 36.7 degrees,
w hich was 0.5 degrees
below normal. The lowest
The highest wind gust
was 43 mph which occurred
on April 7.
The outlook for May
from NOAA’s C lim ate
Prediction Center calls for
above normal temperatures
and be l ow n o r ma l
p re c ip ita tio n . N orm al
highs for Heppner rise from
64.0 degrees at the start of
May to 73.0 degrees at the
end of May. Normal lows
rise from 40.0 degrees to
47.0 degrees. The 30 year
normal precipitation is 1.66
inches.
The
National
W eather S ervice is an
o ffice o f the N ational
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
was 23 degrees, on April
17.
There were 9 days with
the low temperature below
32 degrees.
Precipitation totaled
0.75 inches during April,
w hich was 0.76 inches
below normal. Measurable
precipitation, at least .01
inch, was received on 9
days w ith the heaviest,
0.28 inches reported on
April 19.
Precipitation this year
has reached 1.68 inches,
which is 3.94 inches below
normal. Since October, the
water y ear precipitation
at Heppner has been 5.75
inches, which is 3.93 inches
below normal.
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