PIO821 by C.M.I.

Wednesday August 21, 2024 | Volume 148, Issue 34

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Central School Board calls for $90 million bond INDEPENDENCE/MONMOUTH – The Central School District 13J Board of Directors approved a resolution and ballot title to place a $90 million bond on the November ballot. The motion passed unanimously after two hours of discussion at a special board meeting on, Aug. 14. “This is what we should be doing in a district this size, with the debt that we currently have, in order to provide schools that are safe and attractive for kids to go to,” Director Donn Wahl said after making the motion. “I think we have to remember that, in the state of Oregon, this is the only way we can improve our facilities. Wahl said. “We can’t save up, we can’t pay cash for it, so we have to (ask for a bond).” He said that the lower amounts under consideration fell flat when it came to completing needed improvements. The meeting included a presentation by Superintendent Jennifer Kubista about the steps the board had taken starting in 2020 with the Facilities Assessment Plan, including the ongoing activities of the CSD Facilities Education Committee. Carol Samuels, managing director of public finance from Piper Sandler, presented four different bond options. Director Peggy Clyne thanked Samuels for the “very thorough presentation,” adding that she has a “very clear understanding of what a bond could look like for our citizens.” After reviewing the four resolution options presented, Kubista listed specific projects that could be done,

Cruise-In carries on despite forecast Car show nets $5,000 for youth vision screening

PHOTO BY DAVID HAYES

Bill Cote, of Corvallis (not pictured), braved the weather forecast to show his 1929 Ford Speedster Race Car at the 13th Lions Cruise-In Car Show Aug. 17 at the River View Park in Independence, the Speedster won the President’s Award. For more on the event, see story, page B1.

Independence city council seeks $5.5 million levy to keep library, museum open By DAVID HAYES Itemizer-Observer

On the heels of passing a public safety fee in June to expand funding for its police department, the See BOND, page A10 Independence City Council approved Aug. 13 sending a $5.5 million levy to voters to keep open the library, museum and city parks. According to the administrative report, the five-year operating levy would tax property owners $1.82 per $1,000 of assessed value. For example, a homeowner with an assessed property value of $250,000 would pay an additional $455 per year. The city report further expects the levy to raise $1.123 million in the first year and increase to $1.264 million by the fifth year. During his report to the city council, Independence finance director By DAVID HAYES Rob Moody explained their tradiItemizer-Observer tional revenue streams – from propMost teachers give a back-toerty taxes to franchise fees – are not school assignment for their students keeping up with the costs of mainto incorporate what they did over the taining services. summer break. He added to pay for operational For Jerry McGuffee, a Luckimute costs at the library, police and parks, Valley Charter School teacher at the money was pulled from residential water and sewer payments. middle school campus, he instead The city’s report estimated $6.9 will be sharing what he did to keep million was transferred out of the the learning process going while sewer fund, $6.2 million from the away from his students. water fund, $1 million out of stormMcGuffee, 58, has been taking water and $878,000 taken out of the learning excursions through the transportation fund over an 8 ½ year Center for Geology Education in period. Oregon. In July, he took his first Moody said that means about $2 million per year of taxpayer dollars international trip to Vietnam. paid for sewer and water was spent “We studied the geography of on other things. north to south Vietnam. Started in “Is any of that illegal? No. It’s not Hanoi and finished in Ho Chi Man illegal to do that,” Moody said. “In City, better known as Saigon, and my mind, I believe that there is sort every place in between,” McGuffee of an unwritten covenant with the said. “We traveled the length of the rate payers that when you pay your water bill, that money goes to supSee TEACHERS, page A10 port water services, water operations,

Local teachers expand their geology education in Vietnam

IN THIS ISSUE Voices Corrections Obituaries Puzzle Solutions Social Public Records Classifieds Puzzles

A9 A9 A8 B2 B2 B5 B8 B9

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

The Independence City Council approved sending a $5.5 million levy to voters to keep the public library (pictured) and Heritage Museum open. water capital. That’s what people believe.” Adding to the presentation, City Manager Kenna West said the levy will give residents their first chance to have a choice whether they want to fund library and museum operations or not. “I think it’s important that we’re going to let people decide what they want in our community,” Mayor John McArdle said. Moody explained the library, parks and museum are funded through June 30, 2025. He said if the levy fails in November, the city could try again in May of 2025, that or be left making cuts. “If this thing doesn’t pass, there will be some ramifications,” Moody said. “Those are not our decisions to make. The implementations of those decisions are.”

While the proposal received a strong show of support from those wanting to especially keep the museum open, not everyone was on board. Both City Council members Dawn Roden and Sarah Jobe voted against the levy proposal. Roden, especially, has been outspoken against the city’s budget process this year, saying not enough was done to find cutbacks to continue funding for the library and museum. “I do not want the museum to close. I do not want the library and parks to suffer. But I don’t want to put on people’s backs a tax burden that they cannot afford,” Roen said. “We should have exhausted all of our efforts during the budgeting process to see if we could have gotten money from other sources in our budget and we failed to do that.”

Other City Council members admitted their yes vote was difficult to make. Making the decision more difficult, the city council recently adopted its first public safety fee that kicks in January of 2025. It adds $20 a month to residents’ utility bills, then decreases to $17 and again to $10 a month by July of 2026. Kate Schwarzler also pointed to recent bonds and levies passed by other taxing districts, including Polk County Fire District No. 1 and Polk County, having increased burdens on property owners. “We are asking a lot of our community right now,” Schwarzler said. “We’re faced with rate hikes everywhere. It’s a difficult discussion right now.”

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