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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 24, 2021)
G-T closed for Thanksgiving 50¢ VOL. 140 NO. 47 8 Pages Wednesday, November 24, 2021 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Amazon still top county taxpayer Data centers bring in $11.4 million table). Along with those big- gest ever tax numbers, the county once again also handed out record amounts of tax exemptions. Be- tween the two major tax break programs, SIP and EZ, over $69.2 million in tax breaks were given out to 12 county businesses. Under the SIP, or Strategic Investment Program, the big green-energy and gas generating businesses in the county such as the new Wheatridge wind and solar project, and the older PGE gas fired electric generat- ing facility, got over $15.9 million in tax breaks, while Amazon and other business like some of the food pro- cessing plants, received the more familiar enterprise zone, EZ, tax breaks total- ing $53.3 million. On the residential home front, Gorman said he was surprised by the amount of new construction in the county, mainly in the north end. “In the north end, Boardman and Irrigon area, there was over 100 new houses built last year,” he said. “That was just astonishing to me.” And while residential taxation is a small amount of taxes compared to overall county taxation, he pointed out how important these res- idential valuations are to those communities where the houses are built. Gorman said with an av- erage valuation of $250,000 for each new home, it added approximately $25 million in valuation to the county. resume Monday, November 29. The G-T wishes ev- eryone a happy and safe Thanksgiving weekend. Pictured are a couple of the large Amazon Web Services data centers at Boardman. Table shows top 20 tax payors in the county for 2121. “While on a total county valuation of $2.9 billion that isn’t really a lot, it is still significant and means greater revenue for those communities,” Gorman said. He added that “in the whole scheme of things in the county, the industrial developments and exemp- tions (which have attracted the new businesses) is what is contributing to our large increase in taxable value.” About the tax breaks Gorman pointed out that if you add the SIP and the EZ tax breaks together, Mor- row County is now giving out more in tax breaks than it is collecting in tax mon- ey. “I’m not saying that is good or bad, I’m just saying that’s what we are hearing,” he said. Gorman warned how- ever, against taking a partic- ular company and looking at its one year’s worth of tax breaks and comparing that against other business breaks in the county. The structure of each compa- ny’s tax deal can be differ- ent, and those deals can be complex. He urged instead doing an analysis of each business’s total tax pay- ments at the end of their exemption period to get a better picture of how the tax exemption program is working. As an example of the complexity of the tax deals, businesses that are in the EZ will make their yearly large tax payments to the Columbia River Enterprise Zone, and then also pay, not only for existing bonded debt in a certain tax district, but also any new bond levies enacted by voters in those districts. Gorman said one of the enterprise zone’s bigger business- es, food processer Lamb Weston, was caught off guard by the bond payment requirement. He said Lamb Weston is in year eight of a 15-year (tax) exemption agreement, and subject to paying for bonding within the Boardman city limits. “The lion’s share of the bond payment was Lamb Weston’s, and they were very surprised when they had to come up with the additional $315,657 for their payment,” Gorman pointed out. Business property tax breaks do not extend for- ever, however, and will expire, at which time busi- ness assets come on the tax rolls at regular valuation and tax rates. “When the ex- emption period is over, we should do an analysis and look at what we based our estimates on and compare them to what did happen so we can do a better job in the future of negotiating our agreements,” Gorman recommended to the com- missioners. Commissioner Jim Doherty agreed, “I think that is a good plan.” Table displays increases in valuation of properties in the county for the past 16 years. E L E VAT E YO U R A DV E N T U R E Concrete almost complete CALL 541-989-8221 ext 204 The red concrete stamping being done in Heppner should be completed this week. Although previously reported the work would not be done until spring, time and weather have allowed the workers to finish it sooner. According to Heppner’s city manager, they did not want to leave the open spaces if it was not necessary, and it was better to get it done now rather than having to dig out the fill later. -Photo by Giselle Moses. NEW 2022 FOR By David Sykes Amazon, with its four big data centers at Board- man, is still by far the num- ber one taxpayer in Morrow County, Assessor Mike Gorman told the coun- ty commission recently. Even though the company gets generous property tax breaks, they still racked up over $11.4 million in pay- ments this year. Last year they were also number one, paying over $9.3 million. A distant second is Avista Corporation, operator of a gas-fired power plant at the Port of Morrow, coming in at $3.7 million. Providing the commis- sioners with his annual state of taxation and assessment, Gorman gave a detailed report of where the coun- ty’s valuation is centered, who gets the tax breaks, and which companies are paying the most money (see table). He said total taxable property valuation in the county, which determines how much tax money can be collected, is “moving up” and got “very close” to three billion dollars this year. “We were just $65 million short,” he told the commissioners. This in- crease valuation produced a total $43.7 million in collectible taxes, or $2.12 million more than last year. Comparing this to 16 years ago in 2005, there has been a 181 percent in- crease in taxable valuation, producing a 138 percent increase in property taxes collected in the county (See The Heppner Ga- zette-Times will be closed for the Thanksgiving hol- iday on Thursday and Fri- day, November 25 and 26. Normal business hours will for more information CHECK OUT THE ALL-NEW 2 0 2 2 P O L A R I S L I N E U P. WE’LL HELP YOU LOCK I N W H AT Y O U W A N T. WARNING: Polaris ® off‑road vehicles can be hazardous to operate and are not intended for on‑road use. Driver must be at least 16 years old with a valid driver’s license to operate. 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