FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 29, 2017
COUNTY COURT
-Continued from PAGE ONE on the March 22 agenda of has cost him economically, donating a large portion of
increase by the follow-
ing method: Before being
eliminated, prior to the last
election, there was a full-
time county judge position,
most recently held by Terry
Tallman. The judge’s salary
was twice the commission-
ers at $76,814 per year.
By a vote of the previous
county commission the
judge position was elimi-
nated, and the court now
has three commissioners
all receiving equal wages
of $38,407 per year. The
compensation commission
took the $38,407 “saved”
by the elimination of the
judge position, and divided
it evenly amongst the three
commissioners, which is
how they arrived at the rec-
ommended pay increases.
In addition to their sal-
ary commissioners have
always also received health
insurance and retirement
benefits.
The recommendation
of the compensation board
to increase the salaries was
the county commissioners’
meeting, which opened to
immediate objection from
the public to the wage in-
creases.
“We have an adminis-
trator and we do not need
full time commissioners,”
former county commis-
sioner Dan Brosnan told
the court. “I was a half time
commissioner.”
Doherty said despite
the compensation board’s
recommendation being on
the agenda, the court was
not asking to be moved
from .5 to 1 FTE.
“I have no problem
putting in 40-50-60 hours a
week,” he said. “I only want
the people who run for this
position to know it’s not
part time. I am not going to
ask that we be compensated
any more,” Doherty said.
“When I ran it was ad-
vertised as a part time posi-
tion and I assumed 20 hours
per week,” Russell said.
“Then I won and found out
different.” He said the job
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pointing out that he has
had to sell a couple of car
washes he owned before
being elected, because he
does not have time to run
them. “The time commit-
ment is much more than a
part time,” he emphasized.
Heppner Mayor Cody
High was in attendance at
the commissioner meeting
and pointed out that after
eliminating the full-time
judge position and con-
verting to a three-person
commission last year before
the election, the court advo-
cated for hiring a full-time
administrator to take over
the load.
“You did hire a new ad-
ministrator; would that not
take off the load?” he asked.
High also pointed out that
even with the current salary
at 40 hours per week the
commissioners are making
over $18 an hour, “which is
more than I make.”
Russell said the admin-
istrator is doing things that
weren’t getting done under
the previous full-time judge
position. He cited person-
nel periodic review as an
example.
“This was not getting
done. Employees have the
right to know if their work
is not satisfactory,” Russell
said.
He also said when he
advocated to eliminate the
judge position he did not
think juvenile court judge
work should be handled
by the elected lay county
judge. He said 32 of Or-
egon’s 36 counties agree
with him.
Former commissioner
Lean Rea said she never
considered herself a full-
time commissioner, and
told Russell he had not
served long enough on the
commission yet to get a
full appreciation of how
much time is really needed
for the job. “Some weeks I
would put in more than 40
hours per week, and some
10 hours,” she said.
Doherty said he attend-
ed the compensation board
meeting and they were not
comfortable deciding if the
commission positions were
full time. He suggested per-
haps the matter should be
taken to the county budget
committee.
Compensation Board
Chair Lisanne Currin, who
was at the commission
meeting, also said she did
not think the board should
be the one responsible for
deciding if the commission-
ers are full time or not.
“My concern was it’s
not our job to determine
if you are part time or full
time,” she told the com-
missioners. “The public
needs more due process
with this.”
Doherty said that none
of the commissioners feel
the positions are not full
time, and they just need
to find a process to put it
before the public. He said
he was not sure if there
was a “venue” to do this.
He said under the current
compensation he felt he was
his time and not getting
paid for it.
Morrow County Clerk
Bobbi Childers told the
court the county got a coun-
ty administrator because the
public was told there would
no longer be a full-time
judge/administrator posi-
tion. And with the commis-
sioners now wanting to be
considered full time, “You
sold us down the river on
voting on this.”
“We are full time in
name only. Is that good
enough?” Doherty respond-
ed.
“No,” Childers re-
sponded. “We were sold
this. I don’t see an ad-
ministrator if you are full
time and you need to have
an office here,” she said.
Doherty said there are two
complete work stations in
the county office building
that commissioners can
use and Lindsay said there
has been space made in the
Docken Building in Board-
man for commissioners to
have office space, and that
the commissioners do a lot
of work out of their home.
As far as compensa-
tion Doherty said by com-
parison other counties like
ours have commissioners
making $80,000 to $90,000
per year with a $150,000
administrator. He said
Morrow County “pales by
comparison. This is still
a fantastic value for this
county,” he said of the
commissioner’s hours and
compensation.
“As a past commission-
er I never thought, ‘How
much am I going to get
paid?’” Rea said. “I did not
do it for the money. I hate to
think people are going into
this just for the money.”
Doherty, who defeated
Rea in the last commis-
sion election, said he was
insulted by the comment.
After the discussion the
court voted unanimously
not to give themselves any
raises. However, as far as
the full-time designation,
Morrow County Council
Justin Nelson said it was
pretty much a moot point
since legally the commis-
sion positons are not des-
ignated either full or part
time.
“There is no part-time
county commissioner on
the ballot,” Nelson said.
“Part-time is not valid. No
statute that says you only
work 20 hours. You are
just called a commissioner.
In one county you work 10
hours a week in another
county much more.”
In other business the
county discussed the on-
going problems with the
tower clock. Russell asked
if it was possible to get a
separate accounting on how
much the clock is costing to
keep running. Master clock-
maker Gary Kopperud had
spent some time recently
with Rod Wilson working
on the clock, which had
stopped working. Russell
wanted to know if it might
be better to change back to
an electrical mechanism.
Tax Wise and
Otherwise
A periodic column by Daniel Van Schoiack, CPA
No Pain, No Gain; No Gain, No Pain?
The subject of capital gains is one of the most mis-
understood and feared areas of the tax code. However,
since capital gains rates are lower than ordinary tax rates,
long-term capital gains actually receive preferred tax
treatment. For some taxpayers, there is no federal capital
gains tax. In other cases, the impact of capital gains tax
can be reduced with proper planning.
The IRS takes a backward approach in defining
capital assets in section 1221 of the tax code. The code
basically states that capital assets are property owned by
the taxpayer unless stated otherwise. Some examples of
“non capital assets” include inventory, business supplies,
accounts receivables and most property used in a trade
or business. However, most property used in a trade of
business receives capital gains treatment to the extent
depreciation has not been taken.
If a capital asset is held for more than one year, the
sale is treated a long-term capital gain. Married couples
with taxable income of less than $75,301 are in the zero
long-term capital tax bracket; the same for a single
taxpayer with taxable income of less than $37,671. For
taxpayers in the 25 percent to 35 percent ordinary tax
brackets, the capital gain rate is 15 percent. Taxpayers in
the highest tax bracket of 39.6 percent pay capital gains
tax at 20 percent; basically half of the ordinary rate. For
Oregon, long-term capital gains are taxed at the same
rate as ordinary income; the highest rate is nine percent.
When planning for the sale of capital assets, timing
is of essence. In some cases, selling a capital asset one
day to soon could result in ordinary tax instead of a favor-
able capital gain rate. Sometimes selling a capital asset
on contract over a number of years can prevent spiking
the gain into a higher tax bracket. In other cases a 1031
exchange can be used to defer the gain and meet the
long-term investment goals of the taxpayer. Generally,
the depreciated basis of business property is subject to
ordinary tax rates instead of favorable capital gains rates.
Therefore, if a depreciable asset is likely to be sold within
a short time period, it might be advantageous to minimize
the amount of depreciation taken.
Like most areas of the federal tax code, a thorough
discussion of capital gains is beyond the scope of this
article. There are many exceptions to the general infor-
mation discussed here. For example, cattle and horses
used in a trade or business for draft, breeding, dairy, or
“sporting purposes” must be held for 24 months to obtain
capital gain treatment. Also, other factors like alternate
minimum tax must be considered. With proper planning,
results can go from “No pain, no gain” to “Capital gain,
no big pain.” Please feel free to contact me if you have
any questions about this article.
Daniel Van Schoiack CPA, can be contacted at 541-
676-9971 or danielrvan@yahoo.com. Recent articles can
viewed at danielcpapro.com.
Community lunch menu
Willow Creek Baptist Church volunteers will serve
lunch on Wednesday, April 5, at St. Patrick’s Senior
Center. Lunch will include chicken alfredo, egg noodles,
mixed vegetables, green salad, hot rolls and German
chocolate cake.
“I love mechanical
clocks, just don’t want to
be spending thousands of
dollars to keep it going.”
He said Kopperud is do-
nating a lot of his time but
someday “he might say
he doesn’t want to work
on it any more. Is this an
on-going maintenance?”
Russell asked.
Doherty suggested it
might make sense for the
county to move away for
the mechanical to running
the clock electrically.
Russell also reported
that he is looking into tech-
nology that would have a
different kind of red light
on top of the wind towers
that do not blink constantly
all night, and only come on
when an aircraft comes into
the vicinity.
“The biggest complaint
I have from resident is
the blinking red lights all
night long. The technology
HEPPNER FFA
MEMBERS AT
THE STATE
CONVENTION
IN REDMOND!
is there; we should think
about this when we talk to
wind developers,” he said.
In other business the
court voted to spend up to
$500 to put some type of
display, perhaps from the
SAGE Center, into the front
windows of the Gilliam-
Bisbee building in Hep-
pner. The county owns the
building and Lindsay said
perhaps the county should
do something to make the
big windows in the front
look better.
In other action the court
entered into an intergov-
ernmental agreement that
would allow public works
to share equipment, labor
and materials with other
government entities. Road
department boss Burke
O’Brien said the agreement
will allow the county to be
more streamlined and effi-
cient by working with other
entities.
STUDDED
TIRES MUST
BE REMOVED
BY APRIL 1ST
124 N. MAIN STREET HEPPNER OR 541-676-9481