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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-
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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
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