Annual tab for employment office: $58K

Published 1:30 pm Tuesday, April 7, 2015

By closing its office in Enterprise, a step finalized by the middle of last year, Worksource Oregon appears to have shed around $58,000 of annual expense for the staffed facility. It’s not clear how much the state is spending for the sharply reduced in-person services now provided at the site.

A Chieftain request for public records related to the decision to close the employment office yielded only a three-page document, dated Feb. 5, 2013, titled “B&ES Enterprise Office Consolidation.” The document outlines a preliminary process for deciding the fate of the Wallowa County office, which operated as a satellite of the La Grande office.

The document begins with a paragraph stating that “management” had identified the Enterprise office for closure as part of an across-the-board, 5-percent budget reduction for the employment department.

The document offers a bleak assessment of Wallowa County employment, citing average 10.2 percent unemployment for the year 2012 and stating the county “may have the most seasonal economy in the state.”

The office’s total annual cost included expenses for the facility ($20,000) and salaries for two part-time employees ($38,000 combined). The document lists five possible cost-cutting options ranging from partial to full closure, the course ultimately chosen.

The final sentence of the Wallowa County employment assessment reads: “Closing the Enterprise WSO (Worksource Oregon) Employment Department Office will create substantial employment and service barriers, equitable access to services, as well as travel and technological hardships for the residents and businesses already facing economic challenges.”

Jim Pfarrer, Worksource Oregon’s field operations manager, said the OED comes to Wallowa County on occasion for business outreach. He didn’t immediately know how often the irregularly scheduled service occurs, on average, nor could be provide a savings total for the Enterprise office closure that figured in the current costs for business outreach.

The state pays travel reimbursement of 51 cents per mile to its employees in La Grande who drive to Enterprise.