NEWS/COMMUNITY
A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
Hermiston still
trying to compensate
for COVID-19 losses
Revenues decrease,
lowering city’s reserves
in 2020
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
The pandemic contin-
ues to disrupt the city of
Hermiston’s fi nances, as
the city’s ending fund bal-
ance in October was below
the minimum reserve level
set by the city council.
The council previously
adopted the minimum
reserve policy requiring
at least $1,867,650 in its
general fund at all times.
But in September, the fund
dipped below that amount
while the city was wait-
ing to be reimbursed by
the CARES Act for money
it had spent on COVID-
19 relief for residents and
businesses. During its
Monday, Nov. 23, meet-
ing, Finance Director
Mark Krawcyzk said it
happened again in October
by $309,000.
Krawcyzk said from
March to June the city had
about $750,000 less reve-
nue than projected due to
the effects of COVID-19.
He said the city was able
to spend about $250,000
less than planned by tell-
ing departments to only
spend on “mission critical”
items, but that still left the
city with about $500,000
less than expected.
Krawcyzk said he
and City Manager Byron
Smith had been putting
policies in place to help
the city keep its mini-
mum reserve up during the
“skinny months” of Sep-
tember and October before
property taxes start com-
ing in in November.
“COVID wrecked our
plans,” he said. “It is not
because we weren’t pre-
pared. I believe we were.
But nobody saw COVID
coming.”
He said there were
things they can do in the
coming months to bet-
ter compensate for the
ongoing effects of the
pandemic.
Mayor David Drotz-
mann said the point of the
minimum reserve level
set by the council was to
ensure that if something
catastrophic
happened,
like COVID-19, the city
still had plenty of money
in its account to pay its
bills. That cushion seemed
like it worked in the past
two months, he said.
“The intent of the min-
imum reserve is to create
a rainy day fund, and it’s
hard to argue it’s not rain-
ing this year,” he said.
He said the import-
ant thing now is to look
at how the city will help
it not happen going for-
ward, and how the city
will rebuild its reserves to
a higher level as the econ-
omy recovers.
Smith said city staff are
working hard to come up
with solutions, but if the
pandemic causes a signifi -
cant reduction in property
taxes for the year, it could
mean a reduction in staff
for the city.
“Depending on the
impact of property taxes,
if we have to look at sig-
nifi cant expense reduc-
tion we’re going to have to
start looking at people, and
so that will be on the table
as we start looking a the
budget coming into April,
May, June of next year,”
he said.
In other fi nancial news,
the city received a clean
fi nancial audit, conducted
by Barnett & Moro, with
no material weaknesses
found.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2020
Hermiston Kiwanis Club sells Christmas trees
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Mike Henderson, left, measures a tree at the Hermiston Kiwanis Club Christmas tree lot as Diana Henderson supports it on
Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020.
United Way to distribute
emergency food, shelter funds
HERMISTON HERALD
The United Way of the
Blue Mountains has been
chosen to receive fund-
ing for Phase 38 under the
Emergency Food and Shel-
ter Program (EFSP) to sup-
plement emergency food
and shelter programs.
Umatilla County will
receive $31,679 for Phase
38, according to a news
release.
The selection was made
by a national board that is
chaired by the U.S. Depart-
ment of Homeland Secu-
rity’s Federal Emergency
Management Agency and
consists of representatives
from American Red Cross;
Catholic Charities, USA;
National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the
USA; The Jewish Federa-
tions of North America; The
Salvation Army; and United
Way Worldwide. The local
board was charged to distrib-
ute funds appropriated by
Congress to help expand the
capacity of food and shelter
programs in high-need areas
around the country.
The local EFSP board
will determine how funds
awarded are to be distrib-
uted among emergency food
and shelter programs run by
local service agencies in the
area.
Under the terms of the
grant from the national
board, local agencies cho-
sen to receive funds must be
private voluntary nonprof-
its or units of government;
be eligible to receive federal
funds; have an accounting
system; practice nondiscrim-
ination; have demonstrated
the capability to deliver
emergency food and/or shel-
ter programs; and, if they are
a private voluntary organiza-
tion, they must have a vol-
untary board.
Program
funds
are
used to provide the fol-
lowing, as determined by
the local board in funded
jurisdictions:
• Food, in the form of
served meals or groceries/
food boxes
• Lodging in a mass shel-
ter or hotel
• One month’s rent or
mortgage payment
• One month’s utility bill
In keeping with the emer-
gency nature of this award,
completed applications must
be submitted to christy@
uwbluemt.org or completed
online at www.uwbluemt.
org/EFSP no later than
5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec.
10, 2020.
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