By Scott Unger • Of the News-Register • 

As it reviews 20-year plan, county board ponders park funding ideas

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Comments

fiddler

Oh boy! Another bond.

tagup

Gosh Ms Starrett, did you break out in hives when you granted a multi-million dollar tax break to Hampton Lumber in May of 2023 ?
The county tax assessor told you that the estimate of the lost revenue was $12 to $14 million over 15 years.
Tax payers should remember this decision every time you complain about a lack of county funding.
—See NR article dated May 26, 2023.—

David S. Wall

From the NR article,

"The plan also recommends the county examine the need for its current land, explore selling properties and consider a bond or tax to fund parks.

“When you get a tax passed, it makes all the difference, and so many communities are finding that that’s possible as they see community members finding more and more value placed (on parks),” Laybourn said."

*** Terminate the services of the consultant immediately and with extreme prejudice.

** The NR should report on the total 'Consultant' costs to the taxpayers.

David S. Wall

Ron

tagup did you forget any information in your comments? Besides your dislike for Mary same as it was for Lindsey. Hampton lumber is one of the biggest employers in Yamhill County. John Hampton and son David have done nothing but GOOD THINGS for the county the kids and the community. Why didn’t you mention that? Why did you not mention they are constructing a brand new mill from scratch on the Willamina site? Looks like they’re putting their tax breaks back into the local economy. Seems like that’s what tax breaks were supposed to be used for.Hampton will employee hundreds of people for decades.
An employer that provides good working jobs with benefits. So guessing you would rather see tax cuts for the usual ridiculous so-called money, grabbing companies and even more ridiculous programs around the county.Let’s not forget the RB rubber property that will pay no property tax after Heather Richard’s Pete from the brew pub and Kelly McDonald from the Granary District give the land away. What about that lost revenue?Just politely saying there’s more to the story.

tagup

Ron-Hampton is a good company, no argument from me, and yes, there is more the story….. the mill expansion was planned and would have happened with or without the tax break. It was pretty obvious that election support and having similar political goals played a major role in the decision by the commission.
The commission also voted to reduce Waste Management’s land fill payments to the county a few months before the closure of Riverbend. Do you have the same warm feelings for Waste Mgt?
These are the poor & unnecessary decisions that impact the ability for the county to serve the taxpayers. We will see reductions for years in all departments because of the loss of $12-$14 million in tax revenue. The county commissioners are supposed to represent the taxpayers and make good fiscal decisions for the future of county operations. An unneeded tax break that results in budget cuts is not a good fiscal decision.
By the way, the RB rubber project is a city project and has nothing to do with the county.

Ron

Thanks tagup, I was mostly thinking about the Hampton mill tax break. I think it was a good choice compared to some of other giveaways in my book. Good point about waste management.No warm feelings here. I think YC should charge the mafia owned garbage company the maximum for what they’ve done to Yamhill County. No reason to let them off with any break. Just like Recology, the huge California based company constantly wanting to raise the rates. I don’t know why the commission keeps letting it happen. Anybody with a normal business has to live within their means. Also Water and light they just name their price. We as ratepayers can either pay it or get shut off. Thanks for the clarification on RB rubber. My only argument is it was the bad idea of giving away the RB Rubber City property will still affect the county revenue also.I agree on a lot of poor decisions affecting our lives and especially our budgets. Thanks

tagup

I’m not sure how you think the Hampton tax break is a “good choice” when county budgets including law enforcement, roads and social services are being cut ,due in part, to an unnecessary tax break. I’m sure it feels like a good choice to the Hampton Mgt team though…
As for your take on Mac W&L….. Mac has much lower power rates then PGE, and the water quality and availability is the envy of most other utility companies. The city’s ability to tack on a “service charge” is the biggest glaring issue with my W&L bill, but W&L leadership lobbied against the service charge at the time, so I give them some credit for their objections.

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