June 22, 2018 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 7A
Gearhart approves 2018-19 budget
Numbers reach
almost $2
million
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
PAM BALDRIDGE
Jonny Baldridge celebrates a perfect attendance record.
Perfect attendance
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
Jonny Baldridge is just
finishing up fifth grade and
will be moving on to middle
school.
He has achieved perfect
attendance for all six years of
elementary school, kinder-
garten through fifth grade,
his mom, Pam Baldridge
shared. “He’s never even
been tardy.”
He is an amazing pitch-
er during baseball season
as well as a lineman on the
football team in the fall.
Fifth-grade teacher Sarah
Collins said Jonny excels
and perseveres in everything
he does. “If he did not like a
score he received on a read-
ing response, he would go
back and add more details,”
she said.
A participant in Collins’
after-school robotics class,
Jonny enjoys coding with
his friends and is an excel-
lent mathematician. “He
presented a speech for our
Genius Hour presentations
on the different types of in-
dustrial robots, as well as
brought in his own that he
had constructed,” Collins
said.
He is quiet and humble
and a great role model for all
his peers, she added.
“He’s really a terrific kid
and set the perfect atten-
dance goal for himself at
the end of his kindergarten
year when he received his
first attendance award,” Pam
Baldridge said. “Education
means a lot to him and we
are so proud of him!”
School project is ‘on
target’ financially
District from Page 1A
on July 6.
If costs are higher than
anticipated, the district may
see additional construction
changes.
If the project is estimat-
ed under budget, the district
would wait until all bids are
in for the middle and high
school project before adding
any scope, Henry said.
“Financially we’re on tar-
get,” district business man-
ager Justine Hill said, adding
the district was possibly gain-
ing “a little more interest” on
bonds than anticipated.
A construction pad
A foundation permit pack-
age was submitted to the city
on June 19.
A building permit from the
city is expected Aug. 7, Hen-
ry said. “I think with the site
permit and foundation permit,
we should be able to get a lot
of work before the rains start
in the fall, and be ready to
work to get a good platform
built.”
At a meeting of the dis-
trict’s construction oversight
committee on June 12, Phil
Broome of Hoffman Con-
struction delivered a revised
construction traffic plan in
and out of the work site to
complete a “working plat-
form, a pad that we can work
on through the winter.”
The future football field
will house craft parking
and trailers, Broome said. A
boundary fence will be in-
stalled by the grade school.
After the site is graded, a
perimeter fence will enclose
construction areas.
Construction teams will
notify logging companies sev-
en days in advance of work
about access to the roads. A
gate system will be installed
on the north site of the prop-
erty to advise hunters they can
no longer shoot there.
Concrete foundation work,
awarded to Coffman Excava-
tion at a bid of $17.4 million,
is scheduled for the summer
and fall. The heavy use of
logging roads will continue
through September, minimiz-
ing impact on Avenue S and
Wahanna.
Steel can be erected in
February. “That’s at least
something we can do in the
rain,” Broome said. “The
concrete we can do in the
rain. But we’ve got to get the
groundwork done, get that
established before the rains
come, basically the first of
October, maybe the middle of
October. After that, it’s going
to rain.”
Cultural survey
A cultural resource survey
prepared by Willamette Cul-
tural Resources Associates
conducted an archaeological
investigation, required under
the National Historic Preser-
vation Act.
The study found “no ar-
chaeological cultural resourc-
es during the field investiga-
tion. In the 20th century, the
land was primarily used for
logging purposes. While Sea-
side is in the traditional home-
land of the Clatsop people, the
area of construction was nev-
er substantially developed.
However, the report ad-
vises a response plan should
archaeological materials are
uncovered.
R.J. MARX
The city of Gearhart unan-
imously approved their 2018-
19 budget, with final adoption
at the June 6 City Council
meeting. The rate is $1.0053
for every $1,000 of assessed
property value.
The budget was presented
in late April, with resources
of $1,958,874, a $12,716 de-
crease from last year’s bud-
geted resources.
Budget numbers have not
changed since then, City Ad-
Portion of the Gearhart
2018-19 budget.
ministrator Chad Sweet said
Thursday.
The budget, largely funded
by $561,000 in property tax-
es, represents a decrease of al-
most 2 percent from 2017-18
property tax revenue.
Of the general fund, fire
and police departments re-
ceive the largest share, each
approaching $500,000 includ-
ing personnel, materials and
services and capital outlay.
Gearhart has a “piggy
bank” of $67,000 for the po-
lice car reserve fund. The city
will add $15,000 to that fund
this year. Police cars are esti-
mated at about $38,000.
The city also plans the
purchase of self-contained
breathing apparatus for fire-
fighters, considered a necessi-
ty for the safety of firefighters
when facing indoor blazes.
While the city has ap-
plied for a grant, the city has
a reserve of $183,000 for the
$220,000 equipment cost.
Detailed expenditures for
state revenue sharing were
updated to allocate funds for
nonprofit and community
organizations. Of a total of
$29,700, the city will desig-
nate $4,000 for the city’s 100-
year celebration. The city’s
emergency response team will
see a $1,000 jump in funding,
to $3,500. Helping Hands
Re-entry Outreach Centers
will receive city funds for the
first time, with a $2,300 allo-
cation. Clatsop Community
Action and Clatsop Economic
Development Resources each
saw $500 reductions in city
funding.
The 2018-19 road district
budget of more than $186,000
also received approval, with
a taxpayer cost of 6 cents per
$1,000 of property assessed
value.
Councilors voted twice by
title in their approval to meet
a June 30 deadline.
Rec district mulls expansion scenarios
Board leans to
$16M, 20-year
bond plan
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
Plans for a renovation of
the Seaside aquatic facility on
Broadway include expanded
classrooms for early education
programs, a community gym,
fitness classrooms, an indoor
walking track, enhanced car-
dio fitness area and increased
storage space for pool equip-
ment.
The project comes with a
cost, estimated at between $15
million to $18 million. The
Sunset Empire Park and Rec-
reation District board of direc-
tors presented four scenarios at
both price estimates for a No-
vember bond to pay for it.
The bond will be voted on
by residents of the independent
taxing district, who include
most residents of the Seaside
School District, excluding
Cannon Beach and Gearhart.
“I believe in it because I
can see the impact of this on
the community, of the effect
it’s going to have on kids, of
this expansion,” Alan Evans,
chairman of the district board,
said Wednesday. “There’s not
a whole lot of other options to
make that happen.”
In April, directors voted
to pursue a base plan over an
enhanced proposal that would
have included acquiring and
renovating the Broadway Mid-
dle School building, which
will be vacated as the Seaside
School District moves to build
their new campus. That mod-
el would have cost more than
$28 million without adding
the cost of the building’s land
purchase.
The base plan model is es-
timated between $16 million
and $18 million. The board of
directors reviewed two bond
scenarios, with four repayment
schedules for each.
Bonds would be sold to
investors and repaid off by
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SUNSET EMPIRE PARK AND RECREATION DISTRICT
Potential bond financing scenarios presented to the Sunset
Empire Park and Recreation District board of directors.
property taxpayers over time.
Directors considered 15, 20,
25 and 25 scenarios and their
impact. According to details
provided by executive direc-
tor Skyler Archibald, the base
plan model chosen by board
members is estimated to cost
around $16 million to $18 mil-
lion. The bond will would cost
somewhere between 45 cents
and 70 cents per $1,000 of as-
sessed home value.
Directors leaned to support
of a 15- or 20-year payment
schedule based on the $16 mil-
lion projected cost. While costs
for taxpayers would be higher
on an annual basis, the bond
would be paid faster and elim-
inated additional interest costs,
according to bond consultants
Piper Jaffray. For a payoff pe-
riod of 15 years, the impact of
a homeowner with a $200,000
home would be about $140;
the cost for a $400,000 proper-
ty about double that.
Interest on a 30-year issue
$18 million bond would ex-
ceed $21 million, more than
the cost of the bond. Total debt
service would be more than
$39 million.
In a 15-year debt service
schedule on a $16 million
bond, taxpayers would elect
to pay about $6.6 million in
interest and about $23 million
in total debt service.
“In the end, we have to
explain why we feel this is
important, why we’ve cho-
sen the scenario we’ve cho-
sen,” director Jeremy Mills
said. “We have to get ahead
of this.”
Directors continued to
have concerns about the
bond’s potential to succeed, as
Seaside School District tax-
payers are repaying a $99.7
million bond approved by
voters in 2015 for a new cam-
pus. A proposed $23.8 million
bond for county jail facilities
is on the fall ballot.
“There isn’t another gym
that’s available for communi-
ty use throughout the district,”
Archibald said. “We’re trying
to put something unique and
special in.”
Directors said they plan
to select one of the bond sce-
narios at their July meeting.
A filing must be made with
the county by Aug. 17 to en-
sure the bond measure will be
placed on the ballot for Elec-
tion Day Nov. 6.
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