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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (May 23, 2018)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 LOCAL Oregon Business Plan gathering feedback for 2019 legislative session By JADE MCDOWELL STAFF WRITER When the 2019 legisla- tive session convenes, Ore- gon’s business community plans to be ready with leg- islation and budget rec- ommendations to address Oregon’s fiscal problems. Tackling rising costs of the Public Employee Retirement System is on the top of the list. On Friday, representa- tives of the Oregon Busi- ness Council and Oregon Business & Industry vis- ited Hermiston, where they convened a roundtable dis- cussion with area busi- ness and government lead- ers. The title was “Facing Oregon’s Fiscal Crisis” and the goal was to gather feedback for a partnership known as the Oregon Busi- ness Plan, which will use that to create a series of proposals for the 2019 leg- islative session. Ginny Lang, acting vice president of OBI, told the group that the initiative would be a mixture of rec- ommendations for cost containment, changes to revenue and new invest- ments in areas such as edu- cation that can help grow the economy. “We can’t do it alone,” she said. “Every one of you will be important ... this is a crisis and we need to get started on getting it fixed now.” Jeremy Rogers, vice president of OBC, said despite “very strong rev- enue growth” in the state, expenditures are outpac- ing revenues, creating about a $1 billion shortfall per biennium. The larg- est problem he pointed to was PERS, which has been rapidly increasing oper- ational costs for govern- ment entities. While the courts have made it clear that current retirees’ pen- sions are off-limits, Rog- ers said the state needed to look at what reforms can be implemented to reduce the PERS burden in other ways. Other drains on Ore- gon’s budget the Oregon Business Plan is looking at include the increasing costs of Medicaid and increasing costs for public employee health care plans. The group is also inter- ested in tax reform. Lang said they “learned a lot from Measure 97” about looking at the entire tax system instead of just try- ing to introduce a new idea, like a gross receipts tax, without making adjustments to other reve- nue sources first. “We have to take a step back and look at the whole tax system,” she said, “to look at how to shift it a little to make it more sustainable.” One idea she gave was getting rid of the kicker, which sends money directly back to the tax- payers when state reve- nue overperforms what state economists had pre- dicted. But she said that was a difficult topic that would probably have to be discussed further down the road than 2019. Rogers said moving forward, the Oregon Busi- ness Plan needs to have four different strategies in mind based on whether Kate Brown or Knute Bue- hler will be governor next year and whether Demo- crats will have a superma- jority in the legislature. Local leaders had some ideas of their own for help- ing fix Oregon’s fiscal issues. Tamra Mabbot, city of Umatilla community development director, said regulatory reform was a small thing that could make a big difference to a lot of cities that have eco- nomic development proj- ects held up by state reg- ulations. She said after the city had an idea for recy- cling clean water from a developer into irrigation water it took two years to get a permit from the state. Things like that are partly a regulatory problem, she said, but there is also a problem with state agen- cies not being willing to take a risk on funding proj- ects that are “outside the box.” Kim Puzey, general manager of the Port of Umatilla, said the port had reduced its PERS bur- den over the years through attrition, as PERS employ- ees left and the port replaced them with con- tract employees who had a different set of benefits instead. “To a degree you can get yourselves out from under that,” he said. J.R. Cook, director of the Northeast Oregon Water Association, said he noticed that the “Salem culture” was always to ask for more employees instead of looking at how the department or office can be more efficient with the resources they have. “I think these types of crises lead to the ability to have those discussions about staffing,” he said. Mark Morgan, assistant city manager for the city of Hermiston, said unfunded mandates from the state were a big problem for local government juris- dictions. He also pointed out that in talking about investments into growing Oregon’s economy Rog- ers and Lang had mostly mentioned education ini- tiatives. Things like mak- ing more water available for farmers can also grow the economy, he said. The Oregon Business Plan group plans to do more roundtables around the state and unveil a set of proposals at its summit on December 3. STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL Highland Hills Elementary School is being eyed by the Hermiston School District’s facilities committee for replacement in a future bond. Creative suggestions for school facilities By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER Though they haven’t made any decisions yet, the Hermiston School District has heard from community members: To pass a new bond, they’re going to have to think differently. About 20 people gath- ered Thursday night at the first public meeting held by the facility planning com- mittee, made up of com- munity members, school board members and dis- trict administrators. In Jan- uary, the group began study- ing building issues facing the district, such as enroll- ment and capacity, school safety, and the condition of facilities. The committee is look- ing at potential projects at four schools: new build- ings for Rocky Heights and Highland Hills elemen- tary schools, and making upgrades at Sandstone Mid- dle School and Hermiston High School. The committee said they hope input from the public will inform the next bond proposal. Committee members said they had spent the past few months reviewing the problems with the previous bond, which failed in May 2017. That $104 million bond proposed new buildings for Rocky Heights and High- land Hills, a new elemen- tary school and significant upgrades and expansions to the high school. District Operations Director Brad Wayland said voters did not want to see taxes increase, but were Physiciats Mutual Itsuratce Compaty A less expetsive way to help get the dettal care you deserve If you’re over 50, you can get coverage for about No wait for preventive care and no deductibles – $1 a day* you could get a checkup tomorrow Keep your own dentist! You can go to any dentist Coverage for over 350 procedures including you want cleanings, exams, fi llings, crowns…even dentures the school would have been built for older students. Another suggested that the district could build two- story elementary schools. Wayland said the district hopes to keep elementary school populations around 600. But, as one audience member noted, elementary schools are already pushing that limit. “What’s the point of building a school that’s already past capacity by the time it’s built?” he asked. Others said they wanted to see better communica- tion from the district about the bond. The Facilities Plan- ning Committee is holding another meeting, in Span- ish, Thursday at Armand Larive Middle School at 6:30 p.m. Local man shot, police seek Boardman man The 27-year-old victim is expected to recover A Hermiston man was shot Saturday evening but is expected to recover from his injuries. Carlos Ramirez, 27, was taken to Good Shepherd Medical Center in a private vehicle after he was injured. Hermiston Police Depart- ment Capt. Travis Eynon said someone called 911 to report a shooting at 9:47 p.m. and when officers arrived at 220 E Beebe Ave. in Herm- iston they were informed the victim had already been taken to the hospital. He said the incident took place in the back yard of a residence but he could not yet release more information about what led up to it. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO FROM HERMISTON POLICE DEPARTMENT Alex Ahumada is a person of interest in a shooting that happened Saturday night in Hermiston. No one has been taken into custody, but Eynon said Monday afternoon that police are searching for Alex Ahumada, 33, of Boardman, who is described as a person of interest. If members of the pub- lic know where Ahumada is they are asked to call law enforcement and not try to detain him, as he could be Pergolas · PaƟo Covers · Awnings Sunrooms · PaƟo/Solar Shades Screens & More! 102 E Columbia Dr. Kennewick WA 99336 armed and should be consid- ered dangerous. From 2005 to 2012, Ahu- mada has had several crim- inal charges in the state of Oregon, including posses- sion of methamphetamines, felon in possession of a fire- arm, theft, and failure to per- form duties of a driver to an injured person (hit and run). In a Facebook post, Eynon described the shoot- ing as “an isolated incident” that “does not appear to be a random act.” He said Ahumada and Ramirez are well-known to each other. 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