|
|
|
|
|
Covering Dallas, Monmouth, Independence, Falls City and surrounding areas since 1868
POLK COUNTY -- Most public agencies are bracing for additional cuts following the Aug. 26 state economist report projecting Oregon's biennial revenue shortfall would grow by another $377.5 million.
This may translate to lawmakers trimming 8 percent from budgets for the remainder of the 2009-11 fiscal cycle -- on top of the 9 percent across-the-board reduction ordered by Gov. Ted Kulongoski in May to accommodate what was then a $577 million deficit.
Perhaps the only good news was that K-12 public schools will be spared, as the previously allotted $5.7 billion for education won't change, the governor's office said.
The $118 million in federal assistance recently approved by Congress and approximately $34 million in state reserve funds will be used to preserve school allocations.
Senate President Peter Courtney also said the budget will be balanced without the need for a special session before the Legislature reconvenes in January, despite the sentiments of many Republican lawmakers.
In his lengthy economic and revenue report, Tom Potiowsky, state economist, said: "The prolonged plunge in personal income taxes more than accounts for the decrease associated with this forecast."
Oregon's unemployment rate of 10.6 percent in July has not changed and may be one of the last measurements to improve during this recession, Potiowsky said.
The manufacturing and service sectors were either flat or showed losses.
On the evening of Aug. 26, House representatives Vicki Berger, R-West Salem, and Jim Thompson, R-Dallas, joined Sen. Jackie Winters, R-Salem, to discuss the recession with about 30 local residents during a town hall forum in Independence.
Berger, part of the House revenue committee, said unemployment and the state's dependence on income taxes have created a "perfect storm," for Oregon.
She said options included in a study of "resetting" Oregon government -- which was completed in late June and examines streamlining public service delivery -- will be a priority during the coming biennium.
"If we're going to get out of this hole, we need to look at what we provide and how we provide it in a whole new way," she said.
The three opined that job creation and retention are also needed to pull Oregon into recovery. This should include developing natural resource industries, such as biomass energy, in places such as Polk County where the timber industry has dried up, Thompson said.
Eleanor Titus of Independence asked about the possibility of Oregon ever instituting a sales tax.
"I know it will make me unpopular, but I don't know why people are so reluctant to that," she said. "You pay one anywhere else you go."
Between groans from fellow audience members, Berger said such proposals in the past have usually been defeated because of a "lack of trust" in government.
Winters cautioned that a tougher economic challenge for the state will be the 2011-13 fiscal year.
"Remember, we've been utilizing one-time federal monies that will go away," she said. "This money from the feds -- they can print money in their basement, we can't ... we have to balance our budget."
