BUSINESS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2017
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7
IN BRIEF
Columbia Bank
spreads holiday
warmth
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon has been pushing the company to grow their online market share
Walmart, Amazon and Eastern Oregon
By PHIL WRIGHT
and GEORGE PLAVEN
STAFF WRITERS
Two of the biggest names
in retail are investing serious
money in Umatilla and Mor-
row counties as they wage a
multi-billion dollar battle for
the hearts and wallets of con-
sumers across the globe.
Walmart, which has stores
in Pendleton and Hermis-
ton as well as a massive dis-
tribution center just south
of Hermiston, disperses an
annual payroll of $63 million
in Umatilla County. Ama-
zon, meanwhile, has grown
into the world’s largest
online retailer, and has spent
more than $2 billion building
new data centers in Morrow
County alone.
Both corporate giants
have established a major
presence in the area, and nei-
ther appear to be letting up
as they duel for shopping
supremacy. That has added
local jobs and grown the
local tax base.
Brick and mortar
Tom Heidegger, who is
based in Pasco, is the mar-
ket manager for 12 Walmart
stores in Eastern Oregon,
eastern Washington and
parts of Idaho. He was at the
recent reopening of the Pend-
leton store following weeks
of major upgrades and told
the crowd of associates —
Walmart’s term for employ-
ees — a hard truth: Walmart
did not always have a good
connection to the community
and customers of Pendleton.
The Hermiston store
employs around 400, and the
distribution center has about
930 employees. Employees
also have access to insur-
ance, Heidegger said, and
“the vast majority” have
401K plans.
The associates are part
of the community, he said,
and the distribution cen-
ter and two stores in Uma-
tilla County have a collec-
tive annual payroll of $63
million.
Walmart this year paid
$21,933 in local property
taxes for the Pendleton store
and $32,520 for the Hermis-
ton store. The company paid
$35,575 in property taxes
in 2002 for the Distribution
Center in Hermiston.
The tab this year came to
$186,042.
Pendleton store manager
Shawna Nulf said she has
grown to see the Pendleton
crew as an extended family.
She oversees 230 employees
at the Pendleton Walmart, 70
percent of whom work full
time. Heidegger said most
retailers employ 30 percent
of their workers full-time
and 70 percent part-time, but
Walmart flips that statistic.
Heidegger said building
new stores is not likely for
the region, but the company
remodels locations every five
to seven years.
Clicks and bytes
E-commerce, meanwhile,
has long been the name of
the game at Amazon, which
has grown into the largest
online retailer in the world
based on revenue and sec-
ond-largest in total sales.
Every order placed at
Amazon.com is stored in
one of the company’s large,
nondescript computer server
warehouses known as data
centers. The concrete struc-
tures are the physical man-
ifestation of what techies
refer to as “The Cloud,” stor-
ing everything from Tweets
to downloads to Internet pur-
chase information.
Data centers require an
abundance of water and
cheap electricity, which is
what drew the industry to
the ports of Umatilla and
Morrow along the Colum-
bia River. The first data cen-
ter in Morrow County came
online in 2011 and construc-
tion hasn’t slowed since.
Though each facility
only hires around 20-30
full-time employees, they
are well-paying jobs. Expe-
rienced technicians earn
between $30-35 per hour.
Mike Gorman, assessor
and tax collector for Morrow
County, said Amazon has two
main sites at the Port of Mor-
row’s East Beach Industrial
Park near Boardman. The six
completed data centers have
a total market value of $1.63
billion, of which $1.48 bil-
lion is exempt from taxation
through agreements with the
Columbia River Enterprise
Zone, which provide three
to five years of tax exemp-
tion as an incentive for com-
panies to build in the region.
The company also pur-
chased a third site east of
Lewis and Clark Drive for
$2.9 million earlier this year.
In Umatilla County,
assessor Paul Chalmers said
Amazon has four completed
data center buildings at the
McNary Industrial Park
east of Umatilla, and a fifth
is now under construction.
Amazon also plans to build
four new data centers at a site
west of Hermiston, at West-
land and Cottonwood Bend
roads.
The annual Warm
Hearts Winter Drive is now
underway through Colum-
bia Bank. In addition to
money, people can donate
winter clothing. Donations
will be distributed through
local shelters or advocacy
groups for the homeless.
Coats, gloves, scarves,
hats, long underwear,
socks, throw blankets and
more can make a difference
for people living in the ele-
ments during the cold win-
ter months. Donations can
be dropped off through the
end of December at any
branch of Columbia Bank,
including 1033 S. High-
way 395, Hermiston. To
make financial donations
online, visit www.colum-
biabank.com/warmhearts.
After launching the
project in 2015, Colum-
bia Bank received regional
and national honors for its
efforts. During the 2016
holiday season, nearly
$210,000 was collected,
as well as 8,140 cold
weather items. For ques-
tions, contact Olivia Gust
at ogust@allisonpr.com or
503-290-7304.
First Thursday gets
festive
The December Herm-
iston Downtown Dis-
trict First Thursday event
coincides with the city of
Hermiston’s tree lighting
celebration.
People are encour-
aged to browse partici-
pating merchants from
4:30-7 p.m. In addition
to discounts, there will be
refreshments and a bonus
drawing.
The tree lighting cer-
emony starts at 6 p.m. at
the city’s festival street,
located on Northeast
Second Street between
Gladys Avenue and Main
Street. The celebration
will include food vendors,
caroling and a visit from
Santa Claus.
For more information,
call the city at 541-667-
5018 or search Facebook
for “Hermiston Downtown
District.”
Industry incentives
at interstate
intersection
Companies
thinking
about locating or expand-
ing in the Westland Road
area will have more incen-
tive to do so after the Herm-
iston city council voted to
add the area to the city’s
enterprise zone.
The addition — about
.86 square miles along
the intersection of Inter-
state 84 and Interstate 82
— increases the amount
of industrial land in and
around Hermiston where
companies can apply for a
three to five year exemption
on property taxes on capital
improvements that directly
create jobs. The exemp-
tion would only apply to
any new construction, not
what a company already
has there.
Because the land is out-
side Hermiston city limits
and companies would pay
their property tax to Uma-
tilla County, the county
commission must also sign
off on the expansion.
Mark Morgan, assistant
city manager, said Herm-
iston’s enterprise zone has
been directly responsible
for about $85 million in
new investments in the area
and 362 new jobs, mostly
through Pioneer Seed and
Shearer’s Foods.
About $63 million of
that construction has since
come onto the tax rolls.
The new area covers
property where Amazon is
building new data centers,
but Morgan said the “large
company” building in the
zone had decided to apply
for state incentives instead.
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