What’s on tap for this week’s weather? Check our local weather coverage.
In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories of the weekend:
On the second floor of the county’s Public Service Center, workers are preparing to receive the first installment $604 million on May 1, along with a deluge of complaints, questions and excuses.
This year, the Clark County Treasurer’s Office expects to receive $604,588,913 in property tax payments. While property taxes are probably the largest check most residents of Clark County write all year, there are property owners on the hook for significantly more, as well as less. Each year, some property owners (for various reasons) won’t write checks for taxes and will create more work for the treasurer’s staff.
Clark County Treasurer Doug Lasher said that there is a story behind every property tax bill. Here are a few of the more unusual.
Read the full story: Clark County officials reflect on ups, downs of property tax collection
C-Tran’s proposal to eliminate its daily and monthly paratransit passes will help to control costs and preserve its services, but some people worry the move would put a heavy burden on some of the service’s most dependent users.
Federal law requires C-Tran to provide transit service for people with disabilities that complements its regular fixed-route bus system. C-Van accounts for 4 percent of the agency’s ridership but about 23 percent of operating costs. C-Van customers typically pay $1.80 per ride, but C-Tran’s actual cost of providing the trip is $44. Meanwhile, a fixed-route bus ride typically costs $1.80, while C-Tran’s expense to provide the ride is about $6.
As the community’s population ages and more people begin to use paratransit, C-Tran wants to be sure the cost of providing the service doesn’t affect the viability of its other services in the long term.
“I think there’s a misconception that agencies are worried about their bottom lines. That’s not true. We’re concerned about our customers. We need to be able to make this sustainable,” C-Tran spokeswoman Christine Selk said.
About 1,270 people use C-Van every month and take about an average of 18,800 trips. But, according to Selk, of those 1,270 riders, only about 450 buy a monthly pass and only around 150 take the 33 trips required to equal its $59 cost. But the riders who do ride enough to make up the cost of a monthly pass ride a lot. Those “heavy users” take an average of 43 C-Van trips per month.
“I think the heaviest users are the heaviest users because they don’t have any other form of transportation. But they might also be the ones that have jobs,” said Alicia Crowley, an employment specialist for people with developmental disabilities.
Read the full story: C-Van pass changes worry residents
The pediatric rehabilitation program had just 12 kids when it opened 10 years ago at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center. Today, more than 550 children receive physical, occupational and speech therapy services at the Legacy Children’s Center each week.
And up until a week ago, the rehab program was using the same office space to serve those 550 kids as it was when it had just a dozen patients.
But early last week, the medical center celebrated the completion of a 3,425-square-foot expansion of its Children’s Center, funded by $440,000 in community donations. The added space allows the rehab program to add services and cut down its 200-child waiting list.
In addition, the Children’s Center took over a vacated 1,120-square-foot suite on the same floor to bring pediatric specialists under the same roof. Previously, the providers were crammed into the same office space as the rehab program, and some of those speciality services were only available at the health system’s Portland centers.
“The goal is access to services close to home,” said Lisa Lyons, manager of the pediatric rehab program.
Read the full story: Legacy Children’s Center completes, celebrates expansion
Sites representing more than 160 years of American military history will be highlighted when a heritage group holds its national conference in Vancouver.
The Council on America’s Military Past, or CAMP, conference includes several activities and tours in Vancouver Barracks and Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
The group usually schedules its annual gatherings in locations that reflect one chapter of history, said Bridget Hart, conference coordinator. One recent conference had a Civil War focus, she said.
The selling point for Vancouver — and the group’s other tour stops in Washington and Oregon — was the overlay of historical eras.
“Vancouver Barracks was the Pacific Northwest’s most important military installation for decades,” said Vancouver author Jeff Davis, the planning committee’s local coordinator.
Compared to Revolutionary War sites, “There aren’t as many old places in the Pacific Northwest,” Hart said. “We liked that it represents a range from the Civil War through the Cold War.”
Read the full story: Vancouver hosts national conference on military history
With uncertainty looming over how the state and federal budgets will affect local schools, school district officials said developing their own budgets will likely come down to the last minute.
It’s not a new story for local school districts, which have had to compile and approve their budgets in the weeks following special overtime sessions in Olympia before. Districts are supposed to put out their budgets for public comment by July 10, with adoption in August. The 2015 legislative session broke a record for the longest in a year with three special sessions dragging work into July, and the session adjourned at the end of June in 2013. Both occasions left few days and limited staff working at district offices to complete school budgets.
“There is a statutory need for the budget to be available by July 10, but they’ve kicked that down the road,” said Brett Blechschmidt, chief financial officer for Vancouver Public Schools. That district’s general fund budget was about $285 million this year.
But there’s extra uncertainty this year as the state grapples with how to fully fund K-12 education under the 2012 McCleary decision, and administration changes at the federal level with the appointment of school choice advocate Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education.
“It’s a very crazy time,” said Mike Merlino, chief operating officer for Evergreen Public Schools. Evergreen has a $329 million budget this year.
Read the full story: School districts craft budgets with uncertainty
