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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 2022)
Pastors invited to submit Easter messages Area pastors are invit- ed to submit Easter mes- sages to the Heppner Ga- zette-Times for publication in the April 13 newspaper. Deadline for submission is 5 p.m. Monday, April 11. Messages may be emailed to editor@rapid- 50¢ VOL. 141 NO. 13 8 Pages Wednesday, March 30, 2022 serve.net, mailed to Ga- zette-Times at PO Box 337, Heppner, OR 97836, faxed to 541-676-9211, uploaded to the website, Heppner. net, or brought into the Ga- zette-Times office, 188 W. Willow in Heppner. Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon $11.5 million Amazon money to be spread across county By David Sykes A $11.5 million dollar Amazon windfall payment recently received by Mor- row County, will be paid out and spread across all the county taxing entities, the commissioners reaffirmed last week. The county had re- ceived the unexpected large payment when it was re- cently discovered Amazon incorrectly underpaid its taxes last year. An error was made by the Oregon De- partment of Revenue when valuating new equipment installed at Amazon’s data facility near Boardman. Un- der law the company wasn’t required to pay the money to the county, but decided, as a show of a good cor- porate citizenship, to do so anyway. “Amazon said they wanted to go ahead and pay it, so they paid $11.5 million which would have been part of their tax bill,” Tax Assessor Mike Gorman said in explaining the unex- pected one-time windfall. Commissioners kicked around several ideas on how to spend the funds, which came with virtu- ally no strings attached, before finally settling on a formula seeing nearly every taxing district in the county getting a piece of the pie. From small districts like the Ione-Lexington Cemetery, $36,596, up to the county general fund, nearly $3 million, amounts varied depending on a dis- tricts’ normal taxing rate. Morrow County Schools will receive $2.5 million, and Ione schools $238,677. Also getting funding were the five cities in the county, with each getting identical amounts of $200,000. As a bonus, this money comes to them with no guidelines. Before approving the disbursal, commissioners agreed the money should not go to districts outside of the county that have some taxing authority here. For instance, the Gilliam and Pilot Rock Rural Fire Districts regularly receive tax funds from the county, but under the one-time disbursal plan would not. Their amount would have been about $18,000 each. Several other out of county districts were also exclud- ed, with the commissioners adopting a “keep the money home” theory. Commissioner Melis- sa Lindsay wanted to ex- tend the keep-it-at-home funding idea to all entities located outside the county, including Blue Mountain Community College and Intermountain Educational Service District (IMESD). “I love BMCC. I love the work they are doing, and I know their budget is in trouble,” Lindsay said. “However, I don’t want to see six hundred thousand dollars going to Pendleton via BMCC.” Under the dis- bursal plan, BMCC’s gen- eral fund will get approxi- mately $468 thousand and its bond payment another $159 thousand. “I think this was for a county-wide dis- bursal,” Lindsay said of her original understanding of how the county would pay out the windfall. “My goal is to eliminate those that are not local. Is IMESD and BMCC where we intended for these dollars to go? That was not my intent,” she told the other commissioners. Commissioner Don Russell argued for the funds to go to the community col- lege. “BMCC has a facility in Boardman and their bond was passed by Morrow County residents. We are part of the Blue Moun- tain family,” he said. He said with IMESD there are two elected representatives from the county that serve on its board. “Just because they are headquartered in Pendleton, we still get great benefit out of them,” he emphasized. There was also a con- tinued discussion on how funds should be disbursed to the two county school districts. It is common prac- tice in the county when giving money intended for education for it to be funneled through each district’s education foun- dation, or through other entities such as the Ione Community Agri-Business Organization (ICABO). If the money is given straight to the school districts, then the state of Oregon will re- duce, by that same amount, state money coming into the districts, with no net gain in funding for local education. County Commissioner Jim Doherty has said previously he is not comfortable with the money going anywhere but paid directly to the school districts, however Russell and Lindsay favor the payment method. Mor- row County School Super- intendent Dirk Dirksen has reportedly said he wants to use the foundation meth- od of receiving education funds. County treasurer Jaylene Papineau asked for “more clarity” since she is the one making out the checks. Doherty said he was meeting with Pap- ineau and the county legal counsel, Justin Nelson, to discuss the practice some more. The commission- ers voted unanimously, however, to continue the education funding method and move forward with the county-wide disbursal plan including the IMESD and BMCC funding. Salary increases for elected offficials In other business at its March 23 meeting the commission voted to send on to the budget commit- tee recommended salary increases for county elected 2022 Compensation Board Cost Analysis 3/21/2022 Positions Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Assessor Clerk Justice of the Peace Treasurer Sheriff Total Positions Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Assessor Clerk Justice of the Peace Treasurer Sheriff Total Difference Current Wages Overhead $55,190 $98,728 $55,190 $91,938 $55,190 $91,938 $96,002 $137,302 $78,609 $122,940 $78,609 $129,730 $78,609 $126,364 $113,844 $162,797 $611,243 $961,737 Proposed Wages Overhead $79,000 $133,327 $79,000 $125,655 $79,000 $125,655 $100,322 $144,091 $86,254 $135,208 $82,146 $137,435 $82,146 $133,580 $118,967 $170,733 $706,835 $1,105,684 $95,592 $143,947 (Difference from current) Current (top) and proposed (bottom) salaries for county elected officials next year. Overhead is the total needed to cover salary and benefits. officials for the coming year. The county compen- sation board, which is made up of community volun- teers drawn mainly from the business sector, met in January to come up with the proposed salary increases. Their report suggests a 4.5 percent cost of living increase (COLA) for the sheriff, assessor, treasurer, justice of the peace and county clerk, all of whom are elected. The commit- tee also recommended the clerk’s salary be increased by five percent and county commissioner’s salaries be raised to $79,000 per year. Commissioners are currently making $55,000. The amount would not include benefits. The com- missioners voted to for- ward the salary increase recommendations on to the budget committee, who will make the final deci- sion to approve, without a recommendation from commissioners. Commis- sioners also voted to send a three percent COLA sal- ary increase for nonunion county workers on to the budget committee. COLA increases for union workers are always decided during labor negotiations. Follow- ing is a table of current and next year proposed salaries for elected officials. $1 million for Depot transfer In other business the county voted to come up with $1 million to pay for the “conveyance” or trans- fer of 9,511 acres of Uma- tilla Army Depot Land into ownership of the five-mem- ber Columbia Development Authority (CDA), of which Morrow County is one member. Commissioner Doherty, who was recent- ly appointed chair of the CDA, made the proposal that the county put up the entire one million for the land transfer. At stake is who will control a 640-acre parcel that is part of the 9,511 acres lying inside the Morrow County line with Umatilla County. The Port of Morrow had originally planned 15-years ago to take control of the land and use it for development, or to trade for another parcel closer to its industrial park near Boardman. When the original land transfer ne- gotiations were held with the army, the port agreed to put up the one million dollars. However, Doherty, and also Lindsay, now say the verbal agreement be- tween the county and the port 15-years ago, placing the port in control of the transfer process and putting up the money, was nothing more than a verbal agree- ment and doesn’t need to be honored. Doherty now wants the county to put up the funds and have at least some controls over use of the property. “I would suggest we would put up those funds for the entire amount. I think it would be worth it for the economic development for the entire region,” he told the other commissioners. He did not say what kind of economic development he wanted on the property. Doherty said the county action to pay the money Amazon Gift Payment Final Distribution $11,545,618.52 -$1,000,000.00 $10,545,618.52 Total Funds to Distribute Total to Cities Total To Other Dist $200,000.00 $200,000.00 $200,000.00 $200,000.00 $200,000.00 $3,071,633.38 $188,356.24 $39,688.28 $135,727.24 $39,674.71 $657,983.10 $316,665.63 $68,342.64 $21,631.21 $76,366.50 $411,707.24 $114,776.15 $38,365.40 $53,419.00 $65,917.74 $29,813.97 $33,056.14 $36,596.45 $24,896.91 $68,133.77 $140,198.66 $44,652.03 $237,616.62 $333,320.35 $21,102.48 $2,545,582.79 $437,566.40 $468,554.08 $158,963.72 $169,289.84 $32,336.32 $168,359.66 $238,677.79 $26,495.88 $30,150.20 City of Boardman City of Heppner City of Ione City of Irrigon Town of Lexington Mo Co General Ione SD Bond Boardman Urb Ren Radio District West Boardman URA MOCO Health Dist City of Board Bond City of Irrigon Bond Town of Lex Bond Port of Morrow Boardman Fire & Res Board F&R Bond Heppner RFPD Irrigon RFPD Ione RFPD Boardman Cemetery Heppner Cemetery Ione-Lex Cemetery Irrigon Cemetery Willow Creek Park Boardman Park Irrigon Park Board Park Bond MOCO Unif Rec Dist Heppner Water Cont MOCO School Dist Intermountain ESD BMCC BMCC Bond N Morrow Vector Ione Library OR Trail Library Ione School Dist Heppner RFPD Bond City of Heppner Bond $11,545,618.52 was “in principal” as he did not know where the funds would come from in the county budget. “It is a big financial obligation. Where do the funds come from? But in principle we’re pro- ceeding to put up the full million dollars for the con- veyance of the CDA prop- erty,” he said in making the proposal. He suggested the money might come from “Amazon funds.” Commis- sioner Russell, who previ- ously served on the Port -See AMAZON MONEY/ PAGE SEVEN Commissioner Jim Doherty wants county to fund land transfer of the old Army Depot property E L E VAT E YO U R A DV E N T U R E CALL 541-989-8221 ext 204 NEW 2022 FOR Cities will get $200,000 each 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. Passengers, if permitted, must be at least 12 years old. All riders should always wear helmets, eye protection, and protective clothing. 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