Measures threaten school funding, services

Published 4:00 pm Wednesday, December 9, 2009

There’s a statewide referendum election next month that has the potential to turn education financing in Wallowa County and statewide topsy-turvy.

The two measures in the Jan. 26 election were placed on the ballot by opponents of bills passed in the state legislature earlier in the year to help balance the state budget.

If passed, Measure 66 would confirm House Bill 3405, which increased the income tax by 1.8 to 2 percentage points for households with taxable income of $250,000 a year or more.

Measure 67 would confirm House Bill 2649, which increased the minimum business tax by $140 per business.

Together, the bills are meant to plug a budget deficit of $727 million.

If the measures fail, the bills will be repealed, forcing the state to reduce the budget by another $727 million, including cuts to education, health care, public safety and other services.

Schools would be hard hit, according to the Oregon School District would lose $245,368, Joseph $150,038, Wallowa $148,212 and Troy $12,639.

Only 27 Wallowa County tax filers from among about 28,000 statewide, or fewer than 1 percent, would be affected by the income-tax measure, according to Vote Yes for Oregon, an advocacy group that collected statistics from state departments.

The organization also estimates that the cuts would affect services to 694 county residents served by the Oregon Health Plan, 439 unemployed, 89 receiving long-term care and 35 criminal offenders under supervision.

The business-tax measure raises the $10-a-year tax paid by 88 percent of the state’s businesses, according to the group.

County Clerk Dana Roberts plans to mail the county’s first ballots – to military and overseas voters – Friday, Dec. 11. They will be followed by those to out-of-state voters Dec. 28 and all other voters Jan. 8. They must be returned by 8 p.m. Jan. 26.

The county has 4,760 registered voters, and residents can register as late as Jan. 5 at the clerk’s office in the Enterprise courthouse.

Voters moving elsewhere for winter can request that their ballots be sent to their winter homes. Requests can be mailed, faxed to 426-5901 or emailed to (wcclerk@co.wallowa.or.us), Roberts said. The postal service will not forward ballots, she said.

Ballots will be counted at the clerk’s office on Election Day and results are expected to be available by 9:30 p.m.