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Three from The
Oregonian Jan 30, 2003. Since the
biggest cuts fell on schools and state agencies affecting the needy, closing
schools earlier is creating chaos for working families who will need extra
after school programs in a hurry and they’ll be paying for it, too. So we are likely to see a bunch of child
care programs hastily conceived, some of which will not be certified. Schools are likely to be the first area
where most voters will notice changes, unless they are or know someone affected
in critical need categories. Lots
of other ripple effects will be noticed shortly, but will also be watching to
see if gun sales and burglar alarm sales surge, and am troubled by the notation
that property tax values have been declining in my area. Reaganites get a chance to see how fast
private industry can scramble to catch what government has abandoned. Links to the full articles, below. Color highlights, mine. - Karen Watters Cole Legislators allow new cuts to
kick in SALEM
-- Legislative leaders from both parties shut the book on the current state budget Wednesday, saying they won't try to restore millions of dollars in cuts scheduled to go into effect
now that voters rejected a temporary tax increase. That means dozens of Oregon state troopers will lose their jobs beginning Saturday, schools around the state will trim days from their academic calendars,
and thousands of needy
clients will
lose state health and housing services. However, lawmakers
said they will work to maintain aid for some elderly, mentally ill and people
with disabilities whose lives otherwise might be at risk. But that is being
handled case by case and won't affect the $310 million in cuts that would have
been averted if Measure 28 passed Tuesday. "I'm not
going to create false expectations," said Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem.
"Some people who are seriously ill are going to be without services. It's
going to be very tough." House and Senate
leaders met with Gov. Ted Kulongoski early Wednesday and emerged resigned to a
leaner financial future. Reopening the 2001-03 budget would create more chaos
than the Legislature can handle, they agreed. "We're
going to move on to '03-05,"
said House Speaker Karen Minnis, R-Wood Village. Sen. Kurt Schrader,
D-Canby, co-chairman of the Joint Ways and Means Committee, said an avalanche of funding requests
would gum up the session if the Legislature attempts to revise the current
budget. When the possibility was brought up in
meetings earlier this week, he immediately received proposals for more than
$120 million in budget additions. Kulongoski, who spent
the rest of the day touring The Dalles and the Hood River area, said he wants
the Legislature to keep faith with the voters and keep its pledge to "live
within our means." "My concern is the public thinks that
there is such gross inefficiency in government that somehow there is a pot of
money out there and all we have to do is find it, and somehow we can resolve
all these cuts,"
Kulongoski said. "And
that isn't going to happen." Schools and colleges will slice
off days, programs and raise tuition to plug hole A shorter school year, higher tuition and fewer programs loom for thousands of Oregon
students after Tuesday's rejection of an income tax increase by voters. Schools and colleges must finish the academic year with $136 million less to pay
teachers, professors, buy supplies and pay utility bills than they would have
had if Measure 28 had passed. Nearly all colleges have raised tuition or soon will to balance their
budgets. The pattern for schools
is less certain -- some districts are planning to lop days off their calendars
between now and June, but others have enough reserves to survive more or less
intact for the next five months. Beaverton
is the only big school district in the metro area that won't make cuts. Officials will dip into their
contingency fund to cover the $5.7 million the district lost from Measure 28. "It wasn't just by chance; we were
trying to conserve," said Bob Fisher, Beaverton's assistant
superintendent. In contrast, Portland
Public Schools will cut up
to 24 school days this spring,
or about 15 percent of its calendar, if teachers agree. Unlike other districts, Portland has no
money in reserve. "Parents have
been talking about putting together classes on the days that are
cancelled," said Margaret Butler, a parent at Bridger Elementary in
Southeast Portland. Those kind of
discussions are popping up across the state in response to the new, shorter
spring calendar. For instance, a
group headed by the Mt. Scott Learning Centers is trying to recruit Portland-area churches to provide day care and some schooling
for young children during the days they won't be in school. Mt. Scott would coordinate the program,
charging families $75
to $175 a week on a sliding scale. …
Richard Jarvis,
chancellor of the 78,000 Oregon University System, said although the surcharges
technically apply only to winter and spring terms, it's likely that the
increase will remain in place next fall.
"I don't see at the moment how we are going to avoid that," he
said. Jarvis is worried that the
tuition spikes might cause a replay
of the exodus from Oregon colleges when tuition soared in the early 1990s, because of Measure 5 cutbacks in state support.
"You can
lose a generation of students," he said. "We don't want that to happen again." The colleges have tried to keep cuts away from
student instruction. John Moseley, University of Oregon
provost, said it's a matter of trying to preserve academic quality by
maintaining faculty positions.
Moseley said the universities are pinning hopes this year on gaining
more freedom of operations from the Legislature, which would enable them to set
their tuition rates and make more independent decisions on purchases and other
expenses. "That won't solve
the problem entirely," he said, "but it's a critical element." Sheriff starts releasing inmates
Multnomah County Sheriff Bernie Giusto began releasing 114 mostly
nonviolent inmates Wednesday, one day after voters rejected a temporary income
tax hike. Giusto said closing 114 beds immediately and
laying off 14 employees this week fills a $750,000 million gap in his 2002-2003 budget,
which ends June 30. If he delayed the
decision a month or more, Giusto said, he would have to pare the same amount of
money over a shorter period of time, forcing him to close twice as many beds
and lay off twice as many employees.
"This is not me trying to make a point about the Measure 28
vote," he said. "I'm out of money." Giusto
said next year's budget looks even worse, raising the specter of additional bed closures and
increasing the likelihood that the county will put a jail operating levy on the 2004 ballot. For a variety of
reasons, Measure 28's failure had a less drastic effect on jail operations
elsewhere in the state, with no other sheriffs closing beds in response. "We're not releasing
anybody. We're not opening up the
gates," said Yamhill County Sheriff Jack Crabtree, adding that Measure
28-related cuts will instead come out of parole and probation. But if state money for
local jails continues to shrink, other counties may begin to feel the
squeeze. "I'm prepared to
deal with this short term," Crabtree said. "If it's long term, it's
going to progressively get worse." Multnomah County began
releasing the 114 inmates in several batches, with about 30 in the morning, 50
in the afternoon and the rest scheduled for today. Clutching their belongings in crumpled brown paper bags,
most of the inmates released Wednesday morning rushed past the bank of
television cameras and made for the exit of the downtown Justice Center Jail. …Although many
citizens viewed the release with alarm, Crain downplayed any threat to the
community. "They're just
everyday people," he said. "Not one of them are really a bad guy.
There's worse people out on the streets." Giusto said few, if any, of the people released Wednesday
had violent criminal histories, but they all had preyed on the public -- stealing vehicles, boosting car stereos,
burglarizing homes and dealing drugs. "This is not a
good situation," said Giusto, who said criminals would quickly figure out
they could violate
probation and commit other low-level offenses without fear of going to jail. "We've created a comfort zone of crime," he said. …Giusto's budget problem has
two main sources:
falling property tax revenues for the county and shrinking income tax revenues from the state. Legislature @ http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/front_page/104393213014261.xml Schools @ http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/front_page/104393207914261.xml Jails @ http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/front_page/104393210614260.xml I have all of these in Word format to
share if requested. Outgoing mail scanned by NAV 2002 |
