Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, May 22,2013
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contribution recipients. The
board stipulated that the
list can include most non
profits recognized by the
IRS, but will not include
those involved in politi
cal activities. Anyone who
like their organization in
cluded on the list is urged
to contact CREZ manager
Carla McLane at cmclane@
co.morrow.or.us, or by call
ing 541-922-4624.
Marsha Richmond, ex
ecutive director of the Or
egon Trail Library District,
who was in attendance at
the board meeting, asked
the board to look at her tax
ing district as educational,
and possibly receive fund
ing under the charitable
contribution “buy back”
clause.
In one already negoti
ated agreement the Morrow
County Education Founda
tion received $ 15,000 from
Rack Space; the money will
be used for education in the
Morrow County School
District. Richmond said the
Library District also has ed
ucational aspects that need
funding, and pointed out
that libraries had changed
over the years.
“ They are not ju s t
shelves o f dusty books
anymore,” she said.
In o th e r b u s in e s s ,
board member Gary Neal
responded to a recent Op/
Ed article in the Heppner
Gazette from soon retiring
Irrigon City Manager Jerry
Breazeale. Breazeale took
issue with the CREZ’s re
cently adopted Intergovern
mental Agreement (IGA)
because adjacent taxing
districts were not included
in formulating the IGA.
Breazeale also said he felt
the money lost from tax
collection by the CREZ
agreement was too high a
price to pay for the number
of jobs created.
A s an e x a m p le ,
B reazeale used the re
cently-announced Lamb
Weston potato processing
expansion, where he said
the number of jobs created
would be 35 and the amount
of tax revenue “lost” under
the CREZ agreement with
Lamb Weston would be
$1,164,000 per year, or
$33,257 per job.
Under the fees in lieu of
taxes agreement negotiated
with CREZ, Lamb Weston
will pay $950,000 per year
in fees in lieu of taxes each
year; however, if the com
pany did not have the CREZ
agreement, and still built
its $211 million expansion
at the Port, the company
would have had to pay ap
proxim ately $2,114,000
per year in county property
taxes.
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Port of Morrow General
Manager and CREZ board
member Gary Neal not only
disputed Breazeale’s jobs
figures, but also pointed out
that the Lamb Weston ex
pansion was not even guar
anteed to be built at the Port
of Morrow, and could have
ended up somewhere else,
without Morrow County
getting anything.
“That letter to the edi
tor was not as accurate as
it could have been,” Neal
told the board. He said the
number of jobs created un
der the expansion will be
between 115 and 120, and
that does not even count
the jobs added in connec
tion with the 9,000 acres of
new potato fields that will
be harvested to supply the
expansion. He also pointed
out the new jobs would
pay 150 percent of average
wages.
“ Lam b W eston had
many locations (to choose
from) and could have gone
som ew here e lse ,” Neal
said. He said there are cur
rently 63 enterprise zones in
Oregon, and when negotiat
ing with companies “if you
don’t have an enterprise
zone you don’t talk. This
committee (CREZ) does
the best they can to make
opportunity,” he added.
Neal said Morrow County
now ranks “fifth or sixth” in
the state for average county
wages. He said the goal
now is to get more people
that are working in Morrow
County to start living here.
Other board members
pointed out the benefits of
new business locating in the
zone, including increased
economic activity with lo
cal businesses, more fees
paid to county agencies like
the planning department,
and increased ancillary
activity the new businesses
will create in the county.
In response to adjacent
taxing districts representa
tion in the CREZ policy
making, board members
pointed out that various
members also sit on the
boards o f other taxing
districts, such as Leann
Rea, who is a member of
the CREZ board and also
sits on the medical district
board of directors.
A letter was also dis
tributed from the Morrow
County Court, a partici
pating entity in the CREZ
IGA, in answer to concerns
voiced earlier by Cyde Es
tes, chairman of the Morrow
County Unified Recreation
District. Estes had voiced
concerns over the lack of
input from overlapping and
adjacent tax districts such
as hers, into formulating
the IGA.
The court said the IGA
has already been signed by
all three sponsor entities
(the Port of Morrow, City
of Boardman and Morrow
County) and is now in ef
fect.
“The meetings of the
Columbia River Enterprise
Zone 11 Board of Directors
are public meetings and we
would encourage you or
other Unified Recreation
District members to at
tend,” the county said in
reply to Estes.
W hen c o n s id e rin g
which taxing districts will
be considered in the future
for funding, money for
which will not start coming
in until 2014, most board
members agreed that fire
and police services are the
most obvious, with one
board member saying they
did not see, for instance,
how 100 jobs in Boardman
would affect, for instance,
the library district. One
reason is that not all 100
employees would live in
Morrow County. In the
recent Tillamook Cheese
expansion project at the
Port, out o f 129 jobs cre
ated, despite economic in
centives to do so, only 12
to 15 employees actually
ended up living in Morrow
County.
The board agreed that
it would, in the future, ask
businesses looking to locate
here what services they
felt would be impacted the
most.
In other business, the
board sharpened some of
its guidelines, such as time
lines and application fees,
when considering CREZ
applications and negotiat
ing with companies over
agreements.
Wildhorse Foundation
names grant recipients
Pendleton, OR—Two
Morrow County organi
zations were among the
recipients of the more than
$200,000 in grant money
given out by The Wildhorse
Foundation in the first quar
ter of 2013.
Morrow County Public
Works received $10,000
toward the rehabilitation of
the Morrow County Court
house clock tower. Irrigon
Elementary School received
$5,000 toward playground
equipment and improve
ments for the school.
The Wildhorse Foun
dation is a community ben
efit fund established by the
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reserva
tion (CTUIR) as a result of
its gaming operation.
More than 150 grant
recipients from 2012 en
joyed a specially prepared
lunch at Wildhorse Resort
& Casino earlier this month
as Wildhorse Foundation
V ice-C hairm an P hillip
Houk presented details on
funding for the last year.
The Wildhorse Foundation
aw ards grants to ap p li
cants that cover the areas
of public health and safety,
education, the arts, historic
preservation, gambling ad
diction services, salmon
restoration, environmental
protection, and cultural
activities.
Following the lunch,
the Foundation Board con
sisting of Vice-Chairman
Houk, Secretary/Treasure
Kathleen Peterson, Patty
Hall, Rosenda Shippentow-
er and Bill Hansell, met to
discuss the 2013 First Quar
ter Grant Applicants. A total
of $208,458 was awarded to
42 organizations, bringing
the total since the Founda
tion began in 2001 to over
$6.9 million.
The quarterly deadlines
for requests are January 1,
April 1, July 1 and October
1. For more information
on Wildhorse Foundation
guidelines or to receive
an application, visit www.
wildhorseresort.com or call
Foundation Administrator
Tiah DeGrofft at 541-966-
1628.
GOOD LUCK MUSTANGS
May 22, 2013 at 4:00 pm at the Heppner Softball Field
If they advance to the quarterfinals, they will play
again Friday, May 24th time & place TBA
Heppner High School 2013 Softball team: Back row, (left to right): Jordan Jones, Rylee Kollman, Alyssa Wizner, Jessica Kempken, Baily Bennett, Lizzy Rill, Cidney
Coster, Maggie Collins, Tessa Gould, Nicole Kempken; Front row (left to right): Rylee Wagner, Larissa Gray, Hanna Lovgren, Joslynn Troxell. Sydney Maben, Kenzie
Correa, Caitlynn Bailey, Micha Hintz, Samm Lemmon.
JOIN THESE BUSINESSES AND INDIVIDUALS AS THEY CHEER
ON THE MUSTANGS AND WISH THEM GOOD LUCK AT STATE
A & M's Kitchen
Jeff & Chris Bailey Family
Bank of Eastern Oregon, Member FDIC
Mike & Misty Bennett Family
Tim & Jeannie Collins Family
Columbia Basin Electric Co-op
Community Bank
The Correa Family
David Sykes Real Estate
Sandi Day, Cody Ford, Zane, Whitney & Lucchese
Ford, Chance Day, Cam Day & Cassi Day
Devin Oil, Devin Mobile
Jimmy Fichter
The Futter Family
Melanie Gates, Tarin and Kenneth Troxell
Eddie Gunderson
Travis & Kirsten Harrison
Heppner Gazette-Times
Heppner Family Foods
John, Ashli, Tayllor, Tessa, Thomas and Timothy Gould
Howe's About Pizza
Les Schwab Tire Center
Markel Manufacturing, Inc
Skip and Sandy Mathews
Miller and Sons Excavating and Disposal Service
Morrow County Grain Growers
Morrow County Public Works
Murray’s Drug, Inc.
John, Alita, Tim and Kellie Nelson
Peterson's Jewelers
Pettyjohn's Farm and Builders Supply
Rapid Print, Chris Sykes & Andrew Sykes
Greg & Sherri Smith & Family
Store-4-U
Sweeney Mortuary
Sykes Real Estate
Wheatland Insurance Center, Heppner & lone
Rod, Janet, Terra, Kassey & Alana Wilson
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