March 28, 2008

Ferrioli resigns from rural task force
Cites administration’s failure on issues of rural Oregon

By KATHY GRAY
of The Dalles Chronicle

     Oregon Sen. Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day) resigned in protest Thursday from the Federal Forest and County Services Taskforce.
     “The [taskforce] has done nothing to move forward on solutions that will work in rural Oregon, and instead has concerned itself with revenue restructuring ideas, which if adopted, will drive tax increases far beyond the capacity of citizens residing in damaged rural counties,” Ferrioli wrote in a letter to Gov. Ted Kulongoski dated March 27.
     In a related press release, Ferrioli said the governor, the speaker of the House and the president of the Senate have given “lip service” to rural Oregon, but turned their backs on the threats it faces.
     “When I heard someone on the taskforce float a ‘trial balloon’ for a proposal for a statewide property tax, I knew it was time to walk,” Ferrioli said.
     He described the taskforce as an “exercise in misdirection.”
     The Federal Forests and County Services Taskforce was convened by the Governor to develop “recommendations regarding administrative, budgetary, statutory and, if necessary, constitutional changes needed to provide stable and adequate funding for the provision of essential services at the county level,” according to the Governor’s executive order 07-21 creating the task force.
     “Within the past 60 days, including the Legislative Supplemental Session, we have witnessed elimination of the Office of Rural Policy, the defunding of Rural Development Initiatives and the release of a report from the state economist marginalizing chronic unemployment in rural areas of the state,” Ferrioli said in his letter.
     He added that “revenue restructuring” plans are code words for tax and fee increases large enough they are doomed to be rejected by legislators and voters, leaving the core issues unaddressed.
     Counties face increasing financial crises as federal payments to counties in lieu of taxes on federal lands expire this year. Oregon counties hardest hit by the impending cuts have closed libraries and laid off large numbers of employees in anticipation of the loss. Members of Congress representing the western states hardest hit by the loss, including Oregon, have lobbied strongly, but unsuccessfully to see those funds restored at some level.
     “This task force should concern itself with real solutions like job creation, strategies for economic development, reduction of regulatory obstacles and creating immediate flexibility in land use decisions for local authorities,” said Ferrioli.
     “To use the pain and fear of economic distress in rural Oregon to leverage tax and fee increases is despicable,” he said. “Instead of trying to wring more tax and fee revenue out of Oregonians, we should be asking ourselves, ‘What services, at no additional cost to taxpayers, can state agencies contract to distressed counties to help them continue to deliver services at the local level?’”