The fire district is reaching out to other taxing districts for support in changing what it calls an unfair distribution of funds from payments made by Google in lieu of taxes.
A resolution from Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue, signed in mid-March, was read to the District 21 school board last Thursday. The school board agreed to discuss it further at its next meeting.
Google has long-term exemptions from property taxes in exchange for bringing jobs to The Dalles, through a mechanism called an enterprise zone.
Google makes payments in lieu of taxes, but those payments go to the two local governments that sponsor the enterprise zone Google is in.
Those local governments, Wasco County and the city of The Dalles, are the sole recipients of the payments. They then distribute some of the funding on to other taxing districts.
The fire district said the enterprise zone has been “an important opportunity to bring new growth to The Dalles,” but payments are being distributed unfairly. It is asking that they be distributed in the same ratio that taxes are.
The resolution said payment funds are either distributed “arbitrarily” or “largely retained” by the city and county for their own general fund use. It said the other taxing entities aren’t given the same chance to improve their general fund with the payments.
The city and county have said earlier they want to use the money for projects that wouldn’t otherwise get funded.
The Dalles Mayor Steve Lawrence was highly critical of the resolution, saying, “I find it an amazing resolution without a clear and complete understanding. The city gave most of its money from the second agreement with Google to the fire district. We gave money to reopen the second station, to build the training tower and to revitalize their volunteer program. All this was at their request and aimed at reducing the ISO rating, which it did. As a result, every citizen should have seen their fire insurance premium go down. In addition, the fire district recently passed a huge bond measure and will be purchasing new fire trucks, which the city supported. This seems very disingenuous.”
The school district got money for “curb appeal” projects at local schools, including painting Chenowith Elementary.
The resolution said the fire district is responsible for full-service fire and emergency response to tax exempt businesses, but the taxpayers are “subsidizing these services.”
It asks that the fire district be exempt from tax relief provided in any new enterprise zone designation. The current zone expires June 30, though abatement agreements made under the zone will continue.
The sponsors hope to re-apply for a new zone designation in early June, a city official said.
Wasco County Commissioner Scott Hege said that in late 2016, he and Lawrence spoke to all the affected taxing districts and asked how they would like to see the payments addressed.
Most of them said, if there was a good community project, they would support having some of the payments go towards that, but they would also like part of it to be distributed in the same ratio as taxes, he said.
A letter from the fire board to affected districts said, “The board realizes that this is a sensitive issue, however, with the third Google 15-year tax abatement just starting and the potential for more tax exemptions, we can no longer afford the status quo.”
The letter said long-term tax abatements significantly affects local taxing districts and lost revenue impacts the ability to improve services and meet demands placed on the fire district.
At the school board meeting, board member Ernie Blatz said the city and county “shouldn’t be able to go, ‘What are you going to do for us to make us give you money?’”
Blatz said the city and county gave the school district Google funds, but required that they be spent on curb appeal projects, when there were better usages of the money for direct education of students.
Superintendent Candy Armstrong said, “the reality is the sponsors could keep it all for their general fund, and we have no recourse.”
She said that the one area where Google property tax exemptions affect the school district is when and if the district seeks a bond authority to replace schools.
Until Google properties go on the tax rolls, “that [taxing] capacity is lost.”
She stressed that Google has been “extremely generous” to the school district with technology grants, and she appreciated that Google didn’t have to locate in The Dalles and she felt they needed to be encouraged.
Armstrong said Google has nothing to do with how the payments are distributed.
Google has negotiated three 15-year exemptions with the city and county for three separate phases of construction. The first deal was inked in 2005 and expires in 2022. The second was signed in 2013 and the latest one was signed in 2017.
Blatz said he was thankful for the extra money, but not “the extra strings attached.”
Armstrong said, “It is their money and they don’t have to share with anyone.” Board chair Kathy Ursprung said the city and county “feel it is their right to determine how it is distributed.”
The fire district also aired complaints several years ago about the structure of the payments, but are now taking a stronger stance.
Last time the issue was raised, then state Rep. John Huffman said if he was asked, he would sponsor legislation to change the law about how payments are distributed. It was never pursued.
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