Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune, August 23, 2012

Page 1

Back to School

Tonasket Drama Camp ready for Garlic Festival

Oroville & Tonasket Schools start Wednesday, Aug. 29 See page 6

See page 4

SERVING WASHINGTON’S

OKANOGAN VALLEY

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NVH makes cuts to control warrants

Getting ready for gridiron

Layoffs, other cuts needed to offset lower revenues BY BRENT BAKER BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM

TONASKET - North Valley Hospital District’s warrant level has stubbornly remained at over $2.5 million for several months, putting the hospital in danger of not getting its debt to Okanogan County paid off by its target date of Dec. 2013. Faced with that prospect, the senior leadership board and the Board of Commissioners decided on a series of cuts to rein in expenses. Those cuts included the layoff of eight hospital employees, including three senior administrators; the closing of the

Tonasket Family Medical Clinic to civilians; the cancellation of a number of outside contracts; and the suspension of the second floor and basement construction projects. As of Monday, Aug. 20, the warrant level was at $2,652, 997. NVH was targeted to have that level down to $1 million by the end of this year, which even with the cuts is unlikely to happen. “It was a grueling week,” said NVH Chief Executive Officer Linda Michel. “The issue is that we’ve been stalled at that level for quite a few months. When we did our financial analysis of the rest of the year, we estimated we could get it down to $1.9 million if nothing happened (that required more money be spent). “We’re trying to be proactive to reduce

SEE HOSPITAL | PG. 3

Brent Baker/staff photo

Tonasket football players are put to the test during conditioning drills on Saturday. For more photos of football practice in Tonasket and in Oroville see Sports & Outdoors, page 9.

Tonasket mayor apologizes, takes heat for remarks BY BRENT BAKER

BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM

TONASKET - Sometimes it seems as though no one pays attention until you make a mistake. That had to be going through Tonasket Mayor Patrick Plumb’s mind as he faced a full house of angry constituents at the Tuesday, Aug. 14, city council meeting. After months of mostly empty chairs at council meetings, it was standing room only after Plumb made a number of remarks at the July 24 meeting when discussing the possibility of putting a public transportation sales tax hike to support Okanogan County Transportation and Nutrition on the ballot. At the July meeting, Plumb expressed misgivings about the tax, in part because he said that there was a greater need for criminal justice services than for seniors, and because he said that the buses were being used to campaign for Democratic candidates.

Plumb opened Tuesday’s meeting by apologizing for his earlier remarks, admitting that he’d spoken on a topic about which he wasn’t fully informed. “I was under the impression that Okanogan County Transportation and Nutrition was a government entity, that they were acting under the auspices of a county organization. They are truly not as far as I know now, based on the ... extensive amount of things I’ve read,” Plumb said. The day of the July 24 meeting was the day that Ed Jeffko, a close friend of Plumb’s, was reported missing in his single engine plane, which he said was a factor. “I was emotionally distraught, it was the day we’d found out Ed had disappeared,” he said. “I wasn’t able to effectively communicate my surprise at the taxes that were in front of us. We were considering a six-tenths of a percent of sales tax increase, and we are the only organization that can do that for the City

of Tonasket. So, shell-shocked was probably where I was at... “Also, as it’s a private non-profit organization... I also have to apologize to Chris Zaferes, since he bought that bus from a private organization. It had nothing to do with government. The reason why I was concerned is because municipalities have to be very careful with their surplus... “It’s frustrating in government to see the quickness that people come to you for taxes. It bothers me a lot that it caused this much disruption in you guys’ life. I totally support (Cathy) Anderson driving the bus and I wave -- I didn’t know that program was the same this one was. I knew that was private, I didn’t know this was. “All that being said, I hope you can accept my sincere apology,” he concluded. “I did not speak on behalf of the council or the staff.”

SEE MAYOR | PG. 3

‘Doc’ Hastings swings through Tonasket BY BRENT BAKER BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM

TONASKET - Richard N. “Doc” Hastings is about as sure a bet as there can be to win re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives out of Washington’s 4th Congressional District. He’s been the representative out of the 4th District since 1995, but hasn’t spoken for Okanogan County since 2003, when the county was shifted to the 5th District. After the 2010 census, Washington was awarded a 10th Congressional District, forcing the rest of the state’s districts to be adjusted. Okanogan County shifted back to the 4th District, where Hastings is running for his 10th term since ousting Jay Inslee from the seat in 1995. Hastings is a prohibitive favorite to win re-election after claiming 59.3 percent of the vote in the four-candidate primary on Aug. 7. He will face off against Democrat Mary Baechler, who received 26.5 percent of the primary vote, in the November general election Hastings (R-Pasco) visited Tonasket on Friday, Aug. 17, as part of his election campaign to re-introduce himself

to once-andagain constituents of the area. That included a stop at S h a n n o n ’s for an early morning coffee and interview, where he discussed his views on energy, immigration, veterDoc Hastings ans’ care and other issues. Hastings, who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, had a busy week. His bill H.R. 6247, “Saving Our Dams and Hydropower Development of Jobs Act of 2012,” was part of field hearing held by the committee in Pasco on Wednesday. The bill was introduced partly in response to pressure from some environmental groups to remove dams from Pacific Northwest rivers, including those that are fully operational.

OKANOGAN VALLEY GAZETTE-TRIBUNE Volume 108 No. 34

“It was a hearing simply to really start the discussion,” Hastings said. “We’re going to have to have more energy. Why we don’t look at the benefits of hydropower nationally to me doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The hydropower is self-evident that it fuels our economy. The dams, especially in Central Washington, especially Grand Coulee Dam, is what irrigates the Columbia Basin Project. Any dam has a pool of water behind it where irrigation water comes out, so that really is a big driver of our economy.” Most significantly, Hastings felt, no one in attendance said that hydro wasn’t a renewable power source. “Every one of the panelists were there, from all sides,” he said, “and none of them said that hydro wasn’t renewable. So we’re making progress.” Hastings said his biggest issue is the disposition of federally owned lands, which comprise a large portion of the entire district, as well as a big chunk of Okanogan County. “As chairman of the house natural

SEE HASTINGS | PG. 3

Source: Okanogan County Assessor’s Office

A graph showing new construction values over the past two decades.

Methow Valley continues to lead in new construction

Oroville area sees next highest construction levels, Tonasket fourth BY GARY A. DEVON MANAGING EDITOR

OKANOGAN – The Methow Valley School District represented nearly onethird of the value of all new construction in Okanogan County, according to Assessor Scott Furman’s office. The assessor’s office uses the various school districts to determine the boundaries of each area included in their reports. While the Methow Valley was still on top of the list with $13,157,700 in new construction, or nearly 32 percent of the total, the Oroville School District was next with $6,006,600 in new construction, or 15 percent of the total. “The Okanogan County Assessor’s Office recently completed physically inspecting and valuing for property tax purposes new construction that has occurred throughout the County in the past 12 months,” writes Furman in a press release last Monday. A total of $41,328,500 in new assessed value was picked up for assessment year 2012, taxes payable 2013. This amount is a 10 percent increase over the $37,417,700 that was valued in 2011. However, in 2010 the new construction was valued at $45,397,400 when the Oroville area knocked the Methow Valley School District from the top spot. In that year the Oroville area benefited from new construction of vacation homes, resort developments and construction at Kinross’ Buckhorn Mountain gold mine near Chesaw. The most new construction occurred in 2007 and amounted to $80.7 million, according to Furman. This process to determine the value of new construction in the county involves the office’s four real estate appraisers going

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out and physically inspecting the improvements and determining the value of the improvements based upon a number of criteria. These criteria include square footage, quality of construction, quality of materials used and architectural design. “(A total of) 87 percent of this new construction can be attributed to residential construction with the remaining 13 percent to commercial construction. This compares to 94 percent residential new construction and six percent of commercial new construction in 2011,” writes Furman. The Omak School District came in at third highest with $5,233,300 in new construction or 13 percent of the total. The Tonasket School District followed with a total of $5,225,100 which is also approximately 13 percent of the total. Rounding out the top five is the Okanogan School District which had $4,364,100 or 11 percent of the total. “Valuation of new construction in a timely manner by the assessor’s office is important to all property taxpayers as well as the 64 different taxing districts within Okanogan County,” Furman said. “The addition of these new values to the property tax roll of Okanogan County helps lessen the property tax burden on everyone with existing value while at the same time giving the taxing districts where the new construction is located a small revenue boost.” All property owners who have had new construction valued by the Okanogan County Assessor’s Office this year will have a notice of value change mailed to them August 24. These notices of value change will affect property taxes paid in 2013. Furman, encourages anyone who has questions regarding their new construction assessment to contact the office at (509) 422-7190 or stop by the office at 149 3rd North, Room 202, in Okanogan and talk with them. The assessor’s office is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on holidays.

Community 2-3 Valley Life 4 Letters & Opinions 5

Back to School 6 Valley Life 7 Police Stats/Obits 8

Outdoors/Sports 9 Classifieds/Legals 10-11 Valley Life 12


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