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The INDEPENDENT, January 25,1995
IHDEPENDEHT
The
V/oW Ho/Ver!
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published
twice monthly on the second and fourth Wednesdays of
each month, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 1206
S ta te A ve nu e, V ernonia, OR 97064, as a fre e
new spaper. E ditors and P ublishers, Dirk & Noni
Andersen, (503) 429-9410.
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A Letter to the Editor from an organization called
Taxpayers United of Columbia County (see Letters,
“Taxpayers group questions budget” page 11) asks
many questions about the county budget, but makes
no effort to supply the answers and, instead, deni
grates the budget-makers by innuendo.
An organization such as this could be helpful—-but
only if they do their homework. In an effort to urge the
organization to work toward constructive criticism of
the budgetary process, here is some basic informa
tion they should have obtained before making public
comment.
In this county, the commissioners, sheriff, asses
sor, treasurer and county clerk all receive the same
salary. Neither of the two eligible commissioners
(Hugo and Sykes), nor the county clerk, accepted the
6% PERS pickup, they pay their own. The sheriff, as
sessor and treasurer accepted it.
Most of the Corrections Department revenue is
“pass-through” money; money that comes from the
state and is earmarked for specific purposes. The
commissioners have very little control over that mon
ey and very little of the department’s revenue is from
property taxes.
There are over 600 miles of county roads and no
property taxes are used to maintain them. Road
Dep’t. funds derive from gasoline taxes, surface min
ing (sand and gravel) depletion fees and forest trust
lands reimbursement. The Steel Mill road is an eco
nomic development grant (lottery money) that will be
available only if a proposed steel mill comes to the
county. If not, the money stays with the state for other
economic developments of their choice. There are
also other grants and grant requests on the budget
that may never materialize.
Circuit Court and District Court costs are paid di
rectly by the state, the money doesn’t go through the
county so the costs don’t show on the county budget.
DD (Developmentally Disabled) residential facilities
and Mental Health funds are also pass through
monies. State law requires, but does not pay for, a di
rector of emergency services. Some of the money for
department operations comes from the state Dep’t of
Energy and some from PGE.
Fringe benefits will vary for individuals, depending
on family size, because family members are included
in the employees’ insurance coverage. The current
union contracts require employees to pay part of their
own medical insurance coverage, reducing taxpayers’
costs by $250,000 in the current fiscal year.
Much of this information may be obtained by look
ing at the Resources (income) part of the budget. The
remainder (and much more) is readily available by
asking the commissioners or department heads.
If members of Taxpayers United are serious about
watchdogging the county budget, they should attend
budget meetings. Budget meetings are open to the
public and questions are allowed. The next county
budget meeting will be April 4, 1995, Room 308 in the
courthouse. Call the commissioners’ office (503-397-
4322) for the time.
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By Rep. TimJosi
Oregon House District 2
The first week of the 1995 Oregon legisla
tive session has been very eventful. The
opening day was marked by the swearing in of
Gov. John Kitzhaber and a call for bi-partisan
co-operation in resolving the issues facing the
state during this biennium.
Some legislation being introduced will look
familiar, as it relates to many of the same sub
jects discussed in the last session. These in
clude relaxing environmental regulations, re
ducing the scope of LCDC, strengthening pri
vate property rights in relation to public inter
ests, determining the future administration of
the Education Reform Act, and further devel
oping the Women’s Health and Wellness Act.
Of interest to our communities will be the
re -e v a lu a tio n o f fa c to rs th a t d e te rm in e
w h e th e r la nd sh o u ld be d e s ig n a te d as
farm/forest or allowed for development. Con
tinued work to restore coastal fisheries, and
proposed legislation by the Oregon Ash and
W ildlife Department to require recreational
clam digging licenses are also being consid
ered.
Residents of communities adjacent to the
Tillam ook forest should be especially con
cerned about Senate Bill 104 and Senate
Joint Resolution 2, which affect county receipt
of funds from the Tillamook State Forest. In
troduced by the Superintendent of Education,
Norma Paulus, these bills would have disas-
trous consequences for virtually every com
munity within my legislative district. If these
bills are passed by the legislature, SJR 2
would be placed on the ballot for the next gen
eral election. If passed, it would amend the
Oregon constitution and allow the state to take
timber revenues earmarked for our schools
and local taxing districts and place it into the
Common School Fund. SB 104 is the en
abling, statutory language and would take ef
fect only if SJR 2 were approved by the vot
ers. The counties acquired ownership of these
lands after the Tillamook burn and deeded
them to the state, without compensation, with
the understanding that when the forest had re
covered and was ready for harvesting, the
state would share those revenues with the
corresponding counties. These bills would
breach the state's contract with the counties
that entered into the trust agreement with the
State. I consider this to be a very underhand
ed and devious plan to help the state gain rev
enues to which it is not entitled. I will fight this
attempt in every possible way and I suggest
that we all need to join together with a united
voice to defeat this legislative effort. Send me
your letters and I will see to it that your voice
is heard here in Salem. In future reports, I will
keep everyone informed as to what is happen
ing and how you can help.
Rep. Josi may be reached at:
State Capitol Room H491
Salem, OR 97310
Phone: (503)986-1402
FAX: (503)986-1575
Sykes will be missed on Board
The resignation of Michael Sykes
from the Columbia County Board of
Commissioners is a blow to residents
in the Vernonia area.
Over the years, as voters in this
area finally overcame the feeling of
estrangement from county govern
ment, it was obvious that Sykes had a
great deal to do with that change of at
titude. The reason was apparent: He
didn’t simply pretendió have our inter
ests at heart, he really was concerned.
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There is no doubt that Sykes is an
excellent choice for an economic de
velopment specialist at the Port of St.
Helens. He is knowledgeable, intelli
gent and reliable, but equally impor
tant is his overwhelming desire to
bring good fam ily wage jobs to
Columbia County.
He has served county government
wel, and we regret his going, never
theless we wish him well.