FIVE- Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, December 14, 2022
PUBLIC NOTICE
IN THE CIRCUIT
COURT OF THE
STATE OF OREGON
FOR THE COUNTY OF
MORROW PROBATE
DEPARTMENT
In the matter of the Estate
of RICHARD KEITH SK-
OUBO, Deceased.
CASE No: 22PB10146
NOTICE TO INTEREST-
ED PERSONS
NOTICE IS HEREBY
GIVEN that the under-
signed individual has been
appointed personal rep-
resentative of the estate
of Richard Keith Skoubo,
deceased. All personals
having claims against the
estate are required to pres-
ent them, with vouchers at-
tached, to the undersigned
personal representative in
care of the law office of
Bendixsen Law, P.C., at-
torneys for the personal
representative at 245 E.
Main St. Suite E, Herm-
iston, OR 97838, within
four months after the date
of first publication of this
notice, or the claims may
be barred.
All persons whose rights
may be affected by the pro-
ceedings may obtain addi-
tional information from the
record of the court, the per-
sonal representative, or the
attorneys for the personal
representative.
Dates and first published
on November 30, 2022.
(s) Ella Skoubo Personal
Representative
c/o Cameron Bendixsen,
Attorney for Personal Rep-
resentative
Bendixsen Law, P.C.
245 E. Main St. Suite E
Hermiston, OR 97838
Tele: 541-567-5564
Published: November 30,
December 7, 14, 2022
affid
SWCD Annual Meeting
The Morrow SWCD will
hold the annual meeting
for fiscal year 2021-2022
on Tuesday, January 3,
2023 beginning at 6:30
PM at the Ag Service Cen-
ter in Heppner to report
activities and give a finan-
cial review for the year. To
join via Zoom or confer-
ence call, please contact
the SWCD beforehand at
541-676-5452. Meetings
of the Morrow SWCD
are open to the public.
published: December 14,
21, 218, 2022
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Tax values see increase
-Continued from PAGE ONE
Olson Rd. agreement was
finalized in 2018 and began
its exemption in 2020. The
Gar Swanson Rd agreement
was finalized in 2020, and
this is the first year of its
exemption.
Gorman said all three
of these agreements have
a payment schedule of $1
million per building or
data center located at that
site, with a minimum pay-
ment of $2 million per year.
There is also an additional
payment calculation of $25
million times the property
tax rate for that area in that
year. The $25 million is
indexed 3 percent per year,
similar to the Community
Service Fee related to the
SIP Program.
Morrow County Com-
missioner Don Russell
asked for clarification on
whether there are additional
payments for smaller build-
ings at the site. Gorman said
there are, and added that, at
the Lewis and Clark II site,
there is a smaller building
pays $60,000 per Amazon’s
agreement.
“They’re miniscule in
size to their normal build-
ings, physically,” he said.
“As far as what’s inside, I
don’t know.”
Gorman also said that
standard enterprise zone
exemptions of three to five
years tend to have a larger
exemption percentage than
long term rural enterprise
zone exemptions and that
analyzing a particular com-
pany’s percent of exemp-
tion on a given year can be
misleading due to each in-
dividual payment structure.
The percent of exemption
will change from year to
year, he said, and a full
analysis should performed
at the end of the exemption
period to get the best picture
of the total exemptions.
“Not all the informa-
tion is apples to apples,”
he added.
In general property
taxes, Gorman said the
combined total tax rate for
properties inside the Board-
man city limits is lower this
year because the city levied
a much lower bond amount,
while the outer Boardman
and Irrigon areas are a few
cents lower than last year.
Within the Heppner
city limits, the tax rate
decreased a little, he said,
but market values increased
a whopping 30 percent,
resulting in many proper-
ties having compression
reduced due to the City of
Heppner’s high tax rate.
“Sale prices have just
been increasing exorbi-
tantly here in the south end
of the county, mostly due
to there’s no inventory, so
if a decent house comes
up for sale, it’s almost a
bidding war to get to it,”
Gorman told the commis-
sioners. “Some properties
saw significant tax increas-
es even though nothing had
changed on the property.”
He said he is not aware
of any appeals as yet, but
that his office is working
with at least one property
owner to justify the increase
and why the value on his
property is what it should
be.
Gorman added that he
didn’t want to pick on the
local government, especial-
ly the current government,
which isn’t responsible for
it, but Heppner’s tax rate is
above the Measure 5 limit
of $10 for local govern-
ment.
Meanwhile, properties
within the Ione School
District boundary have an
increased tax rate of about
$.42 due to an appeal by
Pacific Gas Transmission,
which is a major contributor
of value for the school dis-
trict. The tax rates for rural
South Morrow are a few
cents lower than last year.
Gorman ended his pre-
sentation by pointing out
that the increase in Real
Market Value (RMV) is
mostly from new indus-
trial and utility value and
that the reason the taxable
value increase (AV) is not
proportional to RMV is
because a number of the
new industrial and utility
properties have received a
property tax exemption, ei-
ther through the Enterprise
Zone Program or the Stra-
tegic Investment Program.
Several food processing
plants, ethanol producing
plants and data centers have
contributed to the industrial
growth, with four major
wind production projects
and a large scale gas-fired
power plant contributing
to the utility component of
value. Gorman added that
there has been substantial
residential and commercial
value growth throughout
the north end of the county,
but not to the extent of the
industrial and utility value
growth.
Gorman said he expects
values to continue to in-
crease due to new residen-
tial, commercial and indus-
trial development as well as
expiring exemptions.
“Even though inter-
est rates have gone up,
there are still people who
need houses. And they’re
still building houses and
they’re still selling houses
and people are still buying
houses,” he said. “There’s
still a large number of land
development going on, with
partition plats and subdivi-
sion plats—a hundred-lot
subdivision in Boardman. A
hundred lots. That’s huge.”
Morrow County Board
of Commissioner Chair Jim
Doherty addressed rising
property values and pointed
out that Morrow County
was at one time in his tenure
both third highest average
income in the state and third
highest in poverty level.
“You talk about the
home values going up, and
we have that struggle,” he
said, adding that the RMV
had almost doubled during
his time on the commission.
“We also lead the state by
a factor of 10x in trailer
homes.
“So, we still have that
gap in the middle, right?”
he added. “It’s tough to
move into that middle hous-
ing, and I don’t know how
we get there, but we gotta
make sure, as we celebrate
our successes, that every-
body comes along.”
“Part of the problem
in the south end of the
county is available inven-
tory, or lack thereof. There
isn’t any,” Gorman replied,
pointing out that the lack of
housing often means a bid-
ding war when something
decent does come on the
market. “And I’m not just
picking Heppner. Ione and
Lexington are facing the
same issues, and all three
communities are facing
wastewater issues. Maybe
with some of these enter-
prise zone monies and SIP
monies, we can help that,
which would in turn help
that middle range of people
to be able to afford to have
a home.”
Doherty pointed out
that there were also “waste-
water issues” in north coun-
ty. Gorman said he had
received several phone calls
from people around Board-
man who had nitrate issues
with their water and wanted
to know why their property
value had gone up. He said
that market value is based
on sales, and sales have not
indicated that they are af-
fected by the nitrate issues.
“If you know some-
thing I don’t, if you have
some information and think
it is affecting the market,
come talk to me.”
In other business, the
board appoint Morrow
County Planner Tamra
Mabbott as an alternate to
the Lower Umatilla Basin
Groundwater Management
Area (LUBGWMA) com-
mittee. Morrow County
Commission Vice Chair
Melissa Lindsay recapped
the history of the voting
body for the LUBGWMA
and said said she brought it
up because there potentially
was a meeting scheduled
before swear-in of the com-
missioners elect, “It being
a little unknown what the
governance will look like,”
she added.
She said she was fine
with appointing a tempo-
rary alternate and allowing
the new commission to give
a permanent assignment,
but she thought it was im-
portant to “at least get it
in place should there be a
meeting.” She recommend-
ed Mabbott because she was
already heavily involved in
LUBGWMA and had been
attending meetings and
assisting Morrow and Uma-
tilla county commissioners.
“I’m happy to serve in
an interim capacity, just to
keep a Morrow County seat
at the table, and further, if
that’s what the new board
chooses. If not, that’s okay
Ione FFA continues
Christmas tree, wreath sales
Pictured L-R are Ione FFA members working on
building wreaths in the school shop: Mika Limberg,
Madison Orem, Liam Heideman, Carter Eynetich,
Kelly Doherty and Lizzie Doherty. -Photo by Erin
Heideman
The Ione FFA chap-
will be $30 and are being
ter will continue selling
handmade by high school
Christmas trees and
ag students.
wreaths from Ione Com-
Some delivery in
munity School through
town is available. Contact
Thursday, Dec. 16.
advisor, Erin Heideman,
Trees will cost $55- at erin.heideman@ionesd.
$65 and range in size from org or call 541-422-7542
five to 7.5 feet. Wreaths for more information.
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Tamra Mabbot, Planning
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as well,” Mabbott said, add-
ing that she does regularly
attend and has been in and
out of those meetings for a
number of years.
“I don’t want to step
on any toes, it’s just the
importance of these votes,”
said Lindsay. “I didn’t want
to miss out on anything as
a county.”
The board voted unani-
mously to appoint Mabbott
as an alternate with an expi-
ration of Jan. 15 to allow the
new board to consider how
they wanted to fill that seat.
In other business, the
commissioners voted 2-1
to approve the Payment-in-
Lieu-of-Taxes (PILOT) So-
lar Agreement with Tower
Solar, LLC. Lindsay voted
against the approval, saying
she had made her comments
during a previous meeting.
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