Regional alliance tackles funding issues

By Larry Meyer — Argus Observer
Tuesday, August 28, 2007 10:09 AM PDT

Malheur County Engineer Jim Kimberling (left) discusses Senate Bill No. 994, as Harney County Judge Steve Grasty (right) listens Monday at TVCC during a meeting of the Southwest Regional Alliance.

ONTARIO — Southwest Regional Alliance board members continue to mark time as they wait to find out whether the alliance will receive further funding to funnel financial assistance for economic development in Eastern Oregon.

The funding used to fuel the regional alliance effort derived from lottery dollars targeted for local economic development and had been part of the state budget for each biennium for several sessions. However, the Oregon Legislature’s Joint Ways and Means Committee opted to shut off the funding pipeline and did not budget investment funds in the current biennium.

However, money was provided for alliance staff to continue to monitor grants and loans approved during the previous biennium. The alliance was also tasked by the Legislature to make reports on needs and roadblocks to economic development and do an infrastructure inventory list.

These lists will be used to prepare a report for the special session of the Legislature in February 2008 and to identify the amount of funding needed to address these projects, according to information provided by Sondra Lino, alliance staff member and economic development specialist for the Greater Eastern Oregon Development Corporation.

The list, along with other funding criteria, will also be used to guide funding from the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department. The reports are due to the state by December and the next few alliance meetings will focus on putting together the reports, Lino said.

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There is no guarantee the investment funds will be restored to the alliance by the Legislature in February, Lino said Monday, following the alliance’s monthly meeting in Ontario. She and Rena Cusma, South Area manager for the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Region 5, suggested the alliance board may not want to meet every month if its only function is to be the Southeast Advisory Commission on Transportation.

During the transportation portion of the meeting, Malheur County Engineer Jim Kimberling and Ken Freese, county roadmaster, talked about Senate Bill No. 994, which was passed by the Legislature to provide road money to counties that have seen their funds from timber sales decline.

“It’s a one-time deal,” Kimberling said, “borrowing from ODOT’s budget. They don’t want it spent on equipment. They don’t want it spent on salaries. They want it spent on the ground.”

Malheur County is slated to receive $681,559. One third of the counties were awarded more than $1 million, one third the minimum of $400,000, and one third received amounts in between. Malheur County, though, must provide a match to receive the funds. The match is 10.89 percent or $74,000.

Freese said the county has only received about $7,000 in timber revenue.

“The 56 million (for the counties) is only one piece of the puzzle,” Monte Grove, ODOT Region 5 manager, said. Other things, such as less revenue from the gas tax and cost of living increases for employees, added to that, creating a budget impact of $160 million.

The impact will be the loss of some future modernization projects, he said.