Oregon State Representative Brad Witt (D- Clatskanie) asked his colleagues in the Legislature for the last $6 million needed to finish Vernonia’s school buildings.“Vernonia has been ravaged by two five-hundred-year floods in ten years. The town has suffered terribly from the downturn in the timber industry. All that is left in that town is a will to survive,” Witt said.
Vernonia has raised $33 million to build new schools high above the Nehalem River and Rock Creek flood plains. The money has come from grants, community fundraisers as well as a property tax increase of $1.90 per thousand dollars of assessed value. The tax increase in Vernonia was passed with 61% supporting the measure, and with a voter turnout rate of 67%.
In the past six years, inflation has nicked away at the current building fund. Now as construction is well underway, the project may lose its construction crew unless the final 6 million dollars is found.
“The town is six-million in the red and needs that money to finish their school. They have already increased their taxes by a very significant amount. Now it the time for us to step up and help this town and their children,” said Witt.
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