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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 2017)
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2017 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 LOCAL NEWS Stanfi eld residents to see hike in school taxes EOTEC looks ahead to ongoing activities By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER People living in Stan- field School District will see a spike in their next property tax bill, due to what the district claims is an accounting error. The additional tax re- quirement is in response to the district’s error in under-collecting taxes to cover a bond measure passed nearly 20 years ago to pay for a new ele- mentary school. A flier sent out to all residents of the district notes that during the 2015-2016 fiscal audit, conducted in early 2017, the district was notified by its auditing firm that it had not been collecting enough property taxes to cover the bond payments by 2019, when the bond is set to expire. Superintendent Shel- ley Liscom wrote in the flier that was delivered recently that the district would need to increase the percentage it levies for the bond for the 2017- 2018 fiscal year. The let- ter stated that the change was not an “increase,” but a reflection of what res- idents should have been paying in property taxes for the past two years. Paul Chalmers, the tax assessor for Uma- tilla County, said last week that he had already received several phone calls about the problem and made clear that his department does not set the rate for bonds and is not at fault for the error. “The assessment and taxation department gets certified forms for every taxing district in Umatilla County,” he said. “What they certify to us is what we put on the tax rolls.” Chalmers said he was made aware of the prob- lem more than a month ago and advised Liscom to send a notice to tax- payers. He noted that for the upcoming fiscal year, Stanfield will levy $792,553 for bond pay- ments. Last year, they levied $356,425. Liscom said the error was discovered during a meeting with auditors, but that it’s unclear exact- ly what led to the mistake and when it was caught. According to school board meeting minutes, Kris James, the district’s current business manger, said that auditors gave the district a “good report with few findings” as re- cently as February. Liscom and James put the blame on a previous business manager. “It’s hard to know what the last person was thinking,” said Liscom, who was hired as the dis- trict’s superintendent in 2014. Although the district did not name her by name, the previous busi- ness manager at the time of the bond issue was Leeann ReMillard, who held the position for at least 12 years, until her retirement in 2016. James, who is starting her second year as Stan- field School District’s business manager, said the issue came to light this year, while auditing the 2015-2016 school year. James said Pendle- ton-based Cockburn and McClintock brought the error to the attention of James, Liscom, and two school board members. “They said they found there was not enough tax dollars being levied to ad- equately cover the bond payments,” said James. She also said this was not the first time the firm had brought the disparity up to the district. “They brought it to the previous business man- ager at least two times in the past,” James said. “They suggested how to correct it, and it was up to the person to make those changes. That was not done.” James said that to her knowledge, auditors only told this information to the business manager, and not to the superinten- dent or anyone else in the district. “I think they trusted that the business manager would bring that infor- mation to the superinten- dent,” she said. Chalmers said Stan- field taxpayers have been paying about $1.28 per $1,000 in assessed value. After the increase, they will paying about twice that much — $2.56 per $1,000 in value. Accord- ing to U.S. Census Data from 2010, Stanfield’s average home price is $110,000. That means that according to Chalm- ers’ numbers, the average homeowner will be pay- ing roughly $281 for the bond next fiscal year. Some aspects of the property tax adjustment are still up in the air. Liscom said last week the district was working with Chalmers and with auditors to see if they can spread the increased payments out, instead of making taxpayers fork up the missing funds all at once. Stanfield resident Da- vid Olson said he had been researching the is- sue since he received the flier earlier this month. He initially thought the notice was a scam. “There was no address, no phone number, noth- ing,” he said. “It wasn’t on official letterhead.” He said he contacted Chalmers, who told him the information was legit. But Olson is still con- cerned procedure was not followed. “There was no amount, no information whatso- ever,” he said. “Just the idea of a small communi- ty like this — it’s not the right avenue.” –—— Contact Jayati Ra- makrishnan at 541-564- 4534 or jramakrishnan@ eastoregonian.com. Psychiatric facility applies for state approval By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER Umatilla County’s main mental health service is seeking approval on plans to open a psychiatric hospital in Hermiston. Lifeways Inc., will be re- viewed by the Oregon Health Authority to open Aspen Springs Hospital, a 16-bed psychiatric hospital under construction at 1212 W. Linda Ave., Hermiston. The OHA will make a decision by Nov. 22. Lifeways broke ground on the facility in July 2016, and the hospital was scheduled to open this spring. Lifeways director of communications Rick George said the plans were stalled by some issues with other facilities’ applica- tions. “We expected it to be a faster process, but two other projects were going on the other side of the state, which pushed us back,” he said. “The state handles all of those (processes),” he said. “An organization like Life- ways has to go through sev- eral steps. Apply, answer a series of questions about why they want to open a facility, what they’re trying to do.” A press release from the Oregon Health Authority notes that the review will evaluate whether the project is effective to the area it pro- poses to serve, and whether it’s fi nancially viable. When it was fi rst an- nounced, the project was estimated at a construction cost of about $4.3 million, with an annual operating cost of $2.8 million. George said those numbers should remain roughly the same, despite the delay. He said the public hearing will take place in late Sep- tember or early October in Hermiston, and will allow them to fi nalize their appli- cation. Board plans how to transition from construction to operations mode one of his main goals will be fi nding a candidate to replace him full-time. Rivera updated the board on some tasks he’s been working on since the fair and rodeo ended. “This week, we had a management company on site to do a facility assess- ment walk-through,” he said. “We did a two-hour tour. They saw potential at the en- tire site.” Rivera said the compa- ny, VenuWorks (which also operates the Three Rivers Convention Center in Ken- newick), told him the fi rst objective for management should be revenue creation. “They said we need to get something at this facility that makes money every day,” Rivera said. The most likely way to do that, they suggested, is by de- veloping the RV park on the EOTEC site. But Rivera also told the board that they need to so- lidify their own objectives before bringing in a general manager. “Until we answer some of those questions, it’s going to be diffi cult for someone to take this journey with us,” he said Rivera requested direc- tion from the board on sev- eral operations issues. He suggested hiring a team from MLD Services for mainte- nance and janitorial services, and that the board enter a contract with them from now until the end of October. He also asked for ap- proval on booking an event — a horse sale — at the facility using existing pric- ing structures from the fair, and requested that the board approve planting trees in the swells at the north end of the fairgrounds parking lot so they don’t have to be hand-watered. The board unanimously approved Ri- vera’s requests. By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER The fi rst fair and rodeo at the new Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center grounds has come and gone, and board members are turn- ing their attention to operat- ing the facility. Board members of both the Umatilla County Fair and Farm-City Pro Rodeo spoke at Friday’s fi rst EO- TEC board meeting since those events ended. Both said that overall, their events went well. “The board didn’t meet ... because they were worried about getting it completed, not having an event,” said Dennis Barnett of the ro- deo board. “After months of working on the facility, the event went off without a hitch.” Dan Dorran, an outgo- ing fair board member and a member of the EOTEC board, said seeing the facili- ty in operation was a dream come true. “I have thousands of new friends I never would have had before, and probably as many enemies,” he said. “Dreams don’t come this big very often.” Despite their overall sat- isfaction with the fi rst event at the new location, EO- TEC board members quick- ly shifted focus. Their next major job will be to fi nd a permanent manager to run the facility. Nate Rivera, the superintendent of Hermis- ton Energy Services, agreed earlier this month to serve as interim manager of EOTEC for up to six months — but National 10 New 2017 TOYOTA Models 0 % APR for 2017 RAV4 excludes Hybrid Council approves manager’s raise The Hermiston City 2019 and an increase of Council unanimously ap- $5,000 per year to his base proved amend- pay. ments to the That will give contract for City Smith, who was Manager Byron hired as city man- Smith that will give ager in 2014 with him a $5,000 annu- a base salary of al raise and extend $115,000 a year, a his contract a year. new base annual sal- The action came ary of $137,000. He Monday night fol- Byron Smith is currently making lowing an execu- $132,000 per year tive session to dis- after the most recent cuss his performance over cost of living increase for all the past year. city employees approved by The contract amendment the council in June. includes a one-year contract “We appreciate your ser- extension through Aug. 28, vice to the city,” Mayor Da- vid Drotzmann told Smith after the unanimous vote. “It’s been a challenging year,” during which Smith also served as chairman of the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center board, which completed construc- tion on new facilities to take on one of the center’s prima- ry functions as home to the Umatilla County Fair and Farm-City Pro Rodeo. Those two events moved to the new EOTEC facilities and hosted their signature annual events there early this month. — Gary L. 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