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VOL. 141
NO. 50 8 Pages
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
County’s market values, tax values see
significant increase
By Andrea Di Salvo
At its Dec. 7 meeting
in Heppner, the Morrow
County Board of Commis-
sioners heard the assess-
ment and tax quarterly re-
port from Morrow County
Assessor Mike Gorman.
Gorman reported that
the county’s total taxable
value was $3,759,690,030,
with a market value of
$9,228,177,745. Strate-
gic investment Program
(SIP) exemptions totaled
$1,269,106,755, while en-
terprise zone exemptions
were $4,033,767,140.
Gorman said the coun-
only has one year left on its
exemption.
Echo Winds is shared
with Umatilla County, with
each county allocated 50
percent. Gorman said Echo
Winds actually paid more
this year than they would
have if they had paid taxes,
but in previous years it had
been the other way around.
The agreement included
an $80,000 per year local
improvement payment to
schools for the first five
years. It also has one year
left in its exemption.
The Shepard Flats
project paid an additional
for the solar portion that
came online this year, plus
a $335,000.00 CSF. The
county does not share in
the CSF.
In total, SIP payments
were $4,739,657.66 for the
year, with $1,726,593.00
in CSFs. Total SIP exempt
taxes were $16,700,937.00
and the total exempt value
was $1,269,106,755.
On the enterprise zone
portion of the payments,
payments to the CREZ
(Columbia River Enter-
prise Zone) II board totaled
$13,729,646.92 while enter-
prise zone bond payments
SIP Property
2022 Payment to
Morrow County
Exempt Tax Amount
Exempt Value
Willow Creek Energy
$21,145.74
$320,081.85
$19,931,990
Echo Winds
$60,043.48
$77,974.77
$6,331,845
Shepard Flats
$1,504,466.56
$3,844,611.44
$239,409,880
PGE Carty Co-Gen Plant
$2,170,073.00
$5,106,584.80
$409,283,140
Wheatridge Wind PGE
Portion
$694,728.25
$1,744,213.79
$140,795,250
Wheatridge Wind
NextEra Portion
$1,805,496.37
$4,445,941.24
$413,867,520
Orchard Wind Project
$129,887.48
$487,873.37
$39,487,130
ty is in good shape so far,
having collected about 95
percent of the current year’s
taxes, with only $2.9 mil-
lion left to collect as of Nov.
30. The week of November
14-18 alone, he said, the
county collected more than
$33 million in property
taxes, with an additional
$10 million in SIP and
enterprise zone payments.
The $3.7 billion in tax-
able value is an increase
of $823,696,830 over last
year and is mostly due
to expiring exemptions,
Gorman said, most notably
Amazon. Residential, com-
mercial and industrial new
construction contributed, he
added, along with the statu-
tory three percent increase
in assessed value, just not
to the level of Amazon’s
expired enterprise zone
exemptions.
The county’s total mar-
ket value of $9.2 billion is an
increase of $1,099,435,000.
That brings the certified
property tax amounts to
$54,070,119.75, an increase
of $10.63 million. Of that,
Morrow County’s portion is
$15,363,749.17.
Gorman broke down
for the board the amount
of SIP and enterprise zone
payments by property. Two
SIP properties, Willow
Creek Energy and Echo
Winds, are shared with
neighboring counties.
The Willow Creek En-
ergy payment is shared
with Gilliam County, with
62.5 percent allocated to
Morrow County. It includes
a $40,000 per year school
grant payment for the first
five years; the property
amount of $1,004,466.56
and a Community Service
Fee (CSF) of $500,000 in
addition to its SIP payment.
The project has four years
remaining in its exemption.
Gorman added that
the original project own-
er, Caithness, sold it in
2020 to Brookfield Renew-
ables, a Canadian company.
Brookfield Renewables
have invested “a signifi-
cant amount of money,” he
said, in a “repower” of new
blades and gearboxes to get
more efficiency out of the
project.
“Caithness was a great
partner in this project for 10
years, and so far Brookfield
has been a great partner as
well,” Gorman added.
The Portland General
Electric (PGE) Carty co-
gen plant also paid a CSF of
were $279,111.31. Total
enterprise zone exempt tax
amount was $57,169,499.88
with an exempt value of
$4,033,767,140.
Columbia River
Technologies (CRT) paid
$875,000 to CREZ II, with
$47,128.50 of that pay-
ment going toward the Blue
Mountain Community Col-
lege (BMCC), Boardman
Park and new Boardman
Fire & Rescue District
bonds. CRT has a 10-year
exemption with one year
remaining.
Lamb Weston paid
$1,130,857.99, with
$180,857.99 of that pay-
ment for the BMCC, Board-
man Park, Boardman Fire
and City of Boardman
bonds and $950,000 to
CREZ II. Lamb Weston’s
15-year exemption has six
Enterprise Zone Property
Columbia River Technologies
Lamb Weston
MCGG
Threemile Project
Amazon L&C I
Amazon Rippee Rd.
Amazon L&C II
Amazon Olson Rd.
Amazon Gar Swanson Rd.
$500,000 and an additional
amount of $1,670,073, but
the county does not share
in CSF.
The Wheatridge Wind
Project is divided into two
portions, with PGE pay-
ing one third of the SIP
fee and NextEra paying
the other two thirds plus
additional payments for a
solar project. PGE paid a
CSF of $165,000.00 and
an additional amount of
$529,728.25, while Nex-
tEra paid $1,037,996.37
for the wind portion of its
project and $432,500.00
Threemile Project has a
standard five-year exemp-
tion for a methane digester
and pumping facility to
PGE’s Carty co-gen plant.
The total investment was
about $37 million, and
Gorman said Resilient IG
purchased a portion from
Threemile in 2020. This
is their third year claiming
the exemption. A payment
of $61,684.70 is made to
CREZ II each year, with
Threemile having the op-
tion to utilize 50 percent
of that amount as a “buy
back” option. Gorman said
Threemile usually takes
advantage of the option to
give the money to programs
of its choice.
“They’re really big
into the 4-H and FFA pro-
grams,” he said.
Threemile also was
billed $3,596.40 for the
Boardman Fire bond.
The largest taxpayer
in the county, Amazon,
currently has five separate
locations. The first two,
which Gorman referred to
as Lewis & Clark I and Rip-
pee Rd., both have multiple
standard enterprise zone
exemptions. These exemp-
tions are from agreements
made in 2013, 2014 and
2016. The 2013 and 2014
exemptions have expired,
but the 2016 agreements
still have a substantial
amount of exemption and
will expire in 2023. Ama-
zon requested a graduated
payment schedule with
the payments to CREZ II
to increase during the ex-
emption. In addition to the
enterprise zone payments,
the two sites paid bond
amounts of $29,986.48 and
$16,874,80, respectively.
Those two sites will be on
the tax rolls after next year.
The remaining three
Amazon sites, Lewis &
Clark II, Olson Rd. and
Gar Swanson Rd., all have
2022 Payment EZ Payment
$875,000
$1,130,857.99
$804,807.03
$791,873.99
$5,060,000
$2,000,000
$2,000,000
years remaining.
Morrow County Grain
Growers (MCGG) has a
standard five-year exemp-
tion for MCGG’s rail grain
car unloading facility at
the Port of Morrow. The
total investment was about
$7 million. This is their
third year claiming the
exemption. MCGG was
billed $1,051.89 for the
Boardman Fire Bond and,
per the CREZ agreement, a
payment of $30,000 is to be
made to CREZ II in years
four and five.
The WOF PNW
G-T closed Dec. 26
The Heppner Gazette-Times will be closed Monday,
Dec. 26, for the Christmas holiday. The deadline for all
news and ads for the Dec. 28 edition is Friday, Dec. 23,
by 5 p.m.
We wish all of our readers a very merry and safe
Christmas.
15-year, long-term rural
enterprise zone exemptions.
The L&C II agreement was
finalized in 2017 and began
its exemption in 2019. The
-Continued to PAGE FIVE
Residents are asked
to submit photos of their
homes that are lit up and
decorated for the holidays.
Please include the city
where the home is located,
and the street it is on if you
choose. The Heppner Ga-
zette-Times will publish the
photos in the Dec. 21 issue.
Photos may be emailed
to editor@rapidserve.net,
uploaded to Heppner.net
or texted to 757-285-5792.
Photos must be received by
5 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 19,
to be included. For addi-
tional information, contact
the Heppner G-T at 541-
676-9228.
Heppner wrestlers
place at Culver
Zac Brown placed fifth at 145 pounds.
-Photos by Kirsti Cason
Cade Cunningham placed fourth at 220 pounds.
-Photos by Kirsti Cason
Kylie Holden placed second at 155 pounds.
-Photos by Kirsti Cason
H e p p n e r w r e s t l e r s en won by fall in her first
braved more bad weather two matches only to fall
and icy roads on the drive to Summer Schellinger of
to the Culver Invitational Gilchrist in the first-place
Friday and Saturday, where match, ultimately ending in
three Heppner wrestlers the second-place spot.
found spots on the podium.
On the men’s’ side, the
Placing for the Mustangs 145-pound men’s bracket
were Cade Cunningham, was by far the biggest, with
fourth at 220 pounds; Zac 32 wrestlers. Brown lost
Brown, fifth at 145; and his second match to Ryon
Kylie Holden, second at Martinho of Illinois Valley,
155 pounds.
which meant a lot of wres-
The tournament includ- tling to get back to placing
ed 25 teams from all over rounds. He worked his way
the state of Oregon—from through the consolation
Adrian to Ranier and from rounds, finally winning the
Joseph to Klamath Falls, fifth-place match by fall
just to name a few.
over Everett Lerma of La
Heppner had 12 wres- Pine. He ended up with
tlers participating: Owen seven matches during the
Guerra, Landon McMa- tournament and a well-de-
hon, Tyeler Moore, Jaime served spot on the podium.
Cavan-Harris, Haydn Mc-
Cunningham received
Mahon, Zac Brown, Chace a bye on his first round and
Jones, Saul Lopez, Cade won his second match by
Cunningham, Loren Tru- technical fall over Bennie
jillo, Journey Cavan-Harris Ayala of Irrigon. He then
and Kylie Holden.
fought his way to the third-
In the Culver Girls In- place match, placing fourth
vitational on Saturday, Lo- when Clancy Rutledge of
ren Trujillo placed eighth in Culver won the match by
the 103-pound class, losing decision.
the seventh-place match by
The Heppner team will
fall to Miriam Noy of Cul- be at the Tri County Tour-
ver. Journey Cavan-Harris nament in Echo Dec. 14 and
was beat out of fifth when will travel to Elgin for the
she lost by fall to Sarah Elgin Memorial Classic this
Estes of Mazama to place Friday and Saturday.
sixth at 119 pounds. Hold-