6A • May 11, 2018 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
Seaside School District sees 1.8 percent budget hike
Hospitality teacher to
be introduced next
school year
By Brenna Visser and R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
The Seaside School District issued
its nearly $21 million 2018-19 pro-
posed budget Tuesday, April 18, with a
focus on real-world skills for students.
In her budget message to the com-
munity, Sheila Roley, superintendent
of the district, announced the addition
of a full-time culinary arts and hospi-
tality teacher.
According to Roley, the position
was lost several years ago and is now
included due to the funds provided by
the Oregon Student Success Program,
funded by state voters in 2016.
The program is being diversified to
include instruction of skills to work in
the hospitality industry as well as the
food industry.
The district will also be funding
the addition of a full-time elementary
physical education teacher. Current-
ly elementary school students receive
only 30 minutes per week of physical
education. The addition of the new
teacher will double that, she said, mov-
ing the district closer to the state man-
date of offering 30 minutes each day
for students to promote student health.
The general fund increased by 3.8
percent from last year, leading to a to-
tal year-to-year budget increase of 1.8
percent.
The Seaside School District’s fixed
tax rate is $4.4105 per $1,000 of as-
sessed value for the general fund.
The general fund does not include
taxpayer costs related to the $99.7 mil-
lion bond levy approved by voters in
2016 for a new school campus in the
Southeast Hills.
A local option levy of .52 per $1,000
and bond cost of about $1.36 bring the
overall amount to $6.30 per $1,000 for
taxpayers.
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
The 2018-19 proposed Seaside School
District budget.
DAY CPM
Salary costs of $10.2 million and
associated payroll costs of nearly $7
million make the largest portion of the
budget. Other costs include purchased
services, supplies and material and
capital outlay.
The district has also been experi-
encing high workers’ compensation
claims. In four of the last five years, the
district’s workers’ compensation carri-
er has paid out more per dollar than the
premium amount with 51 claims total-
ing $396,315 in losses, said the dis-
trict’s business manager, Justine Hill.
“The majority of our claims are re-
lated to slips, trips and falls. Several of
our total incurred losses due to claims.
… have been significant (i.e., surger-
ies, employee time lost),” Hill said in
an email. “Our workers’ compensation
carrier has been working with our safe-
ty committee and we are trying to fig-
ure out ways to improve safety.”
The budget committee’s next meet-
ing is Tuesday, May 15, at 6 p.m. at
1801 S. Franklin in Seaside. That
meeting is the target date for approv-
al by the budget committee. A June
19 public hearing as approved by the
budget committee will be held to enact
resolutions to adopt the budget, make
the appropriations and to declare the
tax levy.
Proposed rendering of the new district high- and middle-school building.
Students expected to start classes by 2020
Campus from Page 1A
Midway through the design
process, the district was a “bit
over budget,” according to a re-
port from owner’s representative
DAY CPM.
Architects identified about
$3 million in cost savings us-
ing value engineering and
eliminated an additional 3,000
to 4,000 square feet from the
middle- and high-school build-
ing, now projected at about
140,000 square feet, Hess said.
“The footprint hasn’t changed,
but how things are arranged in
there has improved a lot. A lot
of it had to do with minimizing
hallways and using a more effi-
cient layout.”
While no classrooms have
been eliminated from plans,
there was “a little belt-tighten-
ing” in classroom size, Hess
said.
The number of student lock-
ers was reduced by half, with the
goal of saving square footage in
hallways.
Most high school kids don’t
use lockers, district superinten-
dent Sheila Roley said, as elec-
tronic devices replace heavy
textbooks. “If you go in Seaside
High School and see all those
lockers in the hallway, well over
half of them are empty.”
Students who want lockers
may sign up for them, she added.
Permits ahead
The campus budget is expect-
ed to reach about $112 million,
about $12.3 million more than
the original $99.7 million ap-
proved by voters. The difference
is expected to be covered by
bond interest and state grants.
A water tank at the campus
site will be needed for fire safety,
at an anticipated $6 million cost
to the city, Seaside City Manager
Mark Winstanley said at Tues-
day’s meeting.
“You have to have the capac-
ity there whether they ever use it
or not,” he said. “Unfortunately,
we didn’t pass a bond issue.”
After Seaside Planning Com-
mission approval in April, site
inspections from the Oregon
Department of State Lands and
the Army Corps of Engineers re-
main ahead, including an archae-
ological review.
The district’s goal is a June 1
first construction start date. Of-
ficials hope to have a building
permit by Aug. 8. Summer aca-
demic and sports programs usu-
ally held at the Seaside Heights
campus will be relocated to
Broadway Middle School during
construction.
“Everything’s a work in prog-
ress,” Roley said.
At $6 million, campus water tank makes up bulk of budget increase
Budget from Page 1A
Future capital projects
swell the city’s bottom line,
with expenditures for conven-
tion center capital improve-
ments at more than $2 million.
Funds for sewer plant replace-
ment jump more than $1.1
million from 2017-18, budget-
ed at $1.4 million.
Street construction jumped
from a zero budget to $1.1
million for improvements on
Holladay Drive between First
and Avenue A.
Who will pay?
Looming large in upcom-
ing hearings are costs to pro-
vide water, sewer and roads
to the area of the campus,
approved by Seaside School
District voters in 2016.
The biggest question mark
— and attributable for the
largest portion of the budget
jump — is the $6 million es-
timated to be needed for a wa-
ter tank at the school campus,
with $1 million allocated for
2018-19.
At the Jan. 9 Seaside
School District school con-
struction oversight meeting,
Superintendent Sheila Roley
said discussions at the City
Council level indicated the
city would pay for the water
tank and sewer lines for the
project. “The city explained
‘I DON’T KNOW WHERE THIS $6
MILLION IS GOING TO COME FROM
YET. BUT HERE IS WHERE WE START
THE CONVERSATION.’
City Manager Mark Winstanley
they would be responsible for
updating the infrastructure
which needed to be done any-
way,” she said.
“I don’t know where this
$6 million is going to come
from yet,” Winstanley said
Wednesday. “But here is
where we start the conversa-
tion.”
The city hopes to approve
the proposed budget by May
25. Meetings continue on
Monday at 6 p.m.; Tuesday
at 6 p.m.; and Thursday, May
10 at 4 p.m. A June 25 budget
hearing is scheduled to adopt
the budget and make appro-
priations.
Budget highlights
The city has seen steady
rises in budgeted room tax,
liquor and marijuana tax rev-
enues.
The city is estimating a
tax base of $3.81 million, an
increase of $75,000 from the
previous year.
Short-term rental room tax
revenue for vacation rentals is
proposed to rise to $793,100,
more than $100,000 from the
year before. This includes
money from an increase in the
tax from 8 percent to 10 per-
cent, along with revenue from
an agreement with Airbnb.
The city is on track to col-
lect about $770,000 in vacation
rental room tax for 2017-18.
The city expects to receive
in more than $5 million for
hotel and motel room tax,
slightly up from 2017-18.
Marijuana is budgeted at
$82,000, more than five times
the amount budgeted in 2017-
18.
The city pulled in about
$118,000 in taxes on retail
cannabis sales in a period of
five quarters.
Liquor tax receipts see a
slight jump from 2017-18,
from $104,000 to $108,000.
Police officer salaries com-
prise $791,000 of the public
safety budget, about a 5 per-
cent increase from last year
attributable to the addition of
new officers. Salaries of the
police chief, lieutenant and
four sergeants also saw year-
to-year increases.
Seaside business owners seek help in curbing aggressive panhandlers
City could take
cue from Astoria
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
Downtown business own-
ers in Seaside want help con-
trolling aggressive panhan-
dlers.
“If we sit here and get
wishy-washy, and don’t take
some real measures we’re
going to have a really, really
ugly summer,” business own-
er Neil Dundas said. “It’s go-
ing to get worse.”
At a forum Wednesday,
April 25, hosted by the Sea-
side Downtown Development
Association and Seaside Po-
lice Department, business
owners asked police to take a
“hard line” when it comes to
aggressive panhandlers, who,
they say, camp out on city
streets, intimidate passers-by,
play loud music and litter.
Business owner Jeremy
Stevenson asked for great-
er police presence, describ-
ing panhandlers who station
themselves outside his store
for hours at a time, sometimes
for days on end.
Wayne Poole, whose Pig
’N Pancake restaurant sits in
the heart of Broadway, said
the city should “take the ag-
gressive side and figure out
how to deal with it.”
The perception of Seaside
has gotten “sketchy,” busi-
nesswoman Rebecca Buck
added. “My children won’t
come here anymore.”
Seaside has ordinances
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Business owner Neil Dundas offers a call
to action at the forum on aggressive
panhandling. Brian Owen, executive
director of the Seaside Chamber of Com-
merce, is at left.
designed to control begging,
public performances and dis-
orderly conduct.
In 2015, the City Council
considered new regulations
on panhandlers, musicians
and itinerant merchants. The
amendment would have re-
quired a $50 per day fee for
anyone soliciting “for any
form of compensation or re-
muneration.”
Opposition was swift. At
a public hearing, the amend-
ment was called “wrong,”
“brutal,” “discriminatory” and
“a street-sweeping technique.”
The amendment failed to
pass and the issue was tabled.
Three years later, business
owners say problems have
gotten worse.
In November, they ap-
proached the downtown asso-
ciation and Police Chief Dave
Ham with complaints.
A committee was formed
to address the challenge, lead-
ing to Wednesday’s forum,
which brought about 60 peo-
ple to City Hall.
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Broadway in Seaside last summer. Business
owners say panhandlers block the sidewalk and
intimidate passers-by.
In 2015, police counted 17
unlawful lodging cases, issu-
ing eight citations. Numbers
were similar in 2016. In 2017,
when police started tracking
tents on the beach in addition
to unlawful lodging, 79 un-
lawful lodging case files were
taken. Police issued 15 cita-
tions for tents on the beach.
“They’re not ticket-hap-
py,” Ham said. “Those who
deserve the education are the
ones who put the middle fin-
ger up and say, ‘I don’t need
to listen to you.’”
This summer, police will
increase their downtown vis-
ibility, adding foot or bicycle
patrols, he said. A police in-
powered by
tern will add additional patrol
capability.
Police will also seek great-
er compliance from complain-
ants and witnesses. “We can
issue a citation, but we need
you as a witness,” Ham said.
“We’re going to need your
participation.”
Other options include re-
consideration of a permit pro-
cess for panhandlers, limiting
public Wi-Fi capabilities,
outdoor utilities and even re-
placing wooden benches with
less comfortable stone ones to
discourage extended stays.
Seaside could also take a
cue from Salem and Astoria,
with a program that lets busi-
nesses authorize police to en-
force trespassing laws on pri-
vate property after hours.
In Astoria, more than 40
businesses have signed on
this year for Property Watch.
A one-year contract between
businesses and police allows
officers to remove people en-
gaging in loitering or disor-
derly activity.
State law does not allow
police to prevent people from
using public spaces — includ-
ing for panhandling, sitting or
lying down.
In Seaside, a sign-up form
for businesses has been draft-
ed and will go to the city attor-
ney for review.
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