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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 2000)
Commissioner, mayor, council candidates to appear The public is invited to meet the candidates for positions 1 and 3 on the Columbia County Board of Commissioners, Ver nonia Mayor and Vernonia City Council. The Candidates Fair will be held at the Scout Cabin Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 7:00 p.m. The Scout Cabin in located in Hawkins Park, Vernonia. Six candidates are in con- tention for the Board of Com missioners; running for Position 1 are Republican Scott Burge of Scappoose, Democrat Joe Corsiglia of St. Helens and In dependent Paul Pulliam of St. Helens. Position 3 candidates include the incumbent, Repub lican Tony Hyde of Vernonia, Democrat Shawna Sykes of St. Helens, and Constitution Party The last day to register for the Nov. 7th General Election is October 17, 2000 candidate Wayne Mayo of Scappoose. The candidates for Mayor of Vernonia are city councilors Cindy Ball and Mario Leonetti. Candidates for two vacancies on the city council include Chris Collins, Randy Parrow and Glen Purvee. There will be opportunity for the candidates to speak and for the audience to ask questions. In addition to the candi dates, there will be two speak ers to represent the pros and Attn; Leslie Larson (JO Library-OMP 1299 University Of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1299 Flowering cherry trees planted around Lake Vernonia were destroyed by one or more vandals, either late on Sunday, Oct. 22, or early on Oct. 23. The trees were purchased with funds raised by donations from private individuals, Vernonia Pride and a SOLV grant. The larger trees cost as much as $55.00 each. A $300 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the party(ies) responsible. Any one with information is urged to call the Vernonia Police Department, 503-429-7335. PCC seeks approval of bond measure classrooms and a library at the Rock Creek Campus, and add science labs. Other campuses are also in need of expansion. Additionally, the college is in need of technological up grades. Following 15 terms of enroll ment growth, PCC now has 98,870 students. Projections based on historic enrollment patterns and normal population growth indicate that PCC will have more than 120,000 stu dents within 10 years. The bond issue would trans late to an average of 11 cents per thousand dollars of as cons of Ballot Measure 93, the controversial measure that would eliminate the cap on the amount of federal income tax that may be deducted from state personal income taxes. Vernonia High School in structor Steve Calhoun, whose class is sponsoring the candi dates fair, will be moderator for the evening. Jim Buxton will serve as timer. Refreshments will be avail able during intermission. There is no charge for the event. Fall foods In the spotlight... pg. 7 Ringing up some history..... pg. 9 Outdoor school popular.... pg. 10 Banks fencing problems ..pg. 9 BULK RATE U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 37 Vernonia, OR 97064 FREE Homeowners pay for reduced timber tax Trees destroyed... Portland Community Col lege is bursting at the seams and is trying, again, to get vot er approval for the necessary alterations. The $144 million bond mea sure was approved by 57 per cent of the voters last May, but fewer than 50 percent of eligi ble voters cast ballots, nullify ing the results. The district’s board of directors decided to put the measure back on the ballot for the November gener al election. If the bond measure is passed, the proceeds would be used to construct additional INSIDE: sessed value, bringing the total for PCC up to about 35 cents per thousand dollars of as sessed value. Work wifi start soon on trail extension The Oregon Department of Transportation has awarded bids for rock hauling and paving the Banks-Vernonia Lin ear Trail extension between An derson Park and Vernonia Lake. Work should start any day. Fishing piers at the lake will be completed in November. Legislation passed by the Oregon Legislature in 1999 changes the way forest land and timber are taxed and will affect local taxing districts and other property owners. House Bill 3575, sponsored by the timber industry, increases the annual property taxes paid by owners of forest land while eliminating the severance or privilege tax paid on the value of the timber when harvested. Both changes are to be phased in starting this year. Full imple mentation is scheduled for 2003. Once fully phased in, it is estimated that forest land own ers will pay $13.25 million less in taxes per year. ‘These are the most signifi cant changes in the way forest land and timber are taxed since 1977, when the sever ance tax was initiated to re place an annual property tax on standing timber” said Tom Linhares, Columbia County As sessor. “For heavily forested counties like Columbia County, the changes are dramatic and will be felt by every property owner, not just those that own forest land”, Linhares said. While the assessed value of forest land increased more than $64 million this year, the amount of severance tax avail able to reduce tax rates de clined from $2,567,247 to $74,777, which means higher taxes for all other property owners. Tax rate increases due to the lower severance tax offsets will hit property owners hardest in the Mist-Birkenfeld Rural Fire District, with an increase of 86.31 cents per thousand. Rates for the Vernonia Rural Fire Distict will increase by 25.41 cents per thousand, and for the Clatskanie Rural Fire District by 24.96 cents per thousand. In the St. Helens area, tax rates will go up 13.42 cents per thousand, Rainier by 11.94 cents, and by 11.26 cents in Scappoose. Taxing districts other than education districts and rural fire districts will benefit from the higher forest land values. Columbia County government, for example, will see it’s rev enues increase by $87,682 this year. Taxing districts will not lose revenue from the loss of severance tax offsets because the tax rate for other property owners will automatically in crease to make up the differ ence. Statewide, taxing dis tricts other than education dis tricts will see their total rev enues increase a net amount of $3,232,191 this year, ac cording to the official revenue impact statement prepared by the Legislative Revenue Office for HB 3575. Education district tax rates will stay the same this year since severance tax revenues have not been used as an off set for these districts since 1997. However, since schools were the biggest recipients of the severance tax, the amount of revenue available for schools statewide will be re duced by approximately $11,575,785 per year, even af ter factoring in the increase in forest land values, once HB 3575 is fully phased in after 2003. Rural fire districts will also be held harmless from the drop in severance tax receipts, how ever their revenues will not in crease like other non-educa tion districts since rural fire dis tricts generally do not levy tax es on wooded property. Re sponsibility for fire protection on large tracts of timber lands falls to the Oregon Department of Forestry. Please see page 12
