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Measure 66 and 67 may impact budget
The Advocate
The Associated Student Government held a voter registration drive Monday and Tuesday to register voters in time for the Jan. 26 special election.
Jeannine Retzlaff, ASG director of community affairs, said, “It was extremely successful. Our goal was 400 and we ended up registering 900 people.”
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ASMHCC Director of Communications James Dezellem said, “We didn’t think we were going to make our goal but we ended up dominating.”
Oregon voters will affect the MHCC’s budget in this special election comprised entirely of Measures 66 and 67.
If both measures received a yes vote, Measure 66 would raise taxes on households with incomes at and above $250,000 and reduce income taxes on unemployment benefits in 2009. Measure 67 would raise the $10 minimum tax, business minimum tax and corporate business tax to maintain funds currently budgeted for education, health care, public safety and other services.
Even if both measures pass, MHCC’s budget will still remain the same, well below the 5 percent reserve fund set by the College Board, according to JoAnn Zahn, vice president of administrative services.
Currently the reserve is about 1.75 percent, or $876,287, according to an all-staff e-mail sent by college president John Sygielski on Dec. 5.
If both measures fail, the impact will be immediate, reducing this year’s budget by a projected 5 to 10 percent, or between $1,259,195 to $2,838,516, according to numbers released by the Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development.
According to Zahn, the real impact of the success or failures of Measures 66 and 67 won’t be decided until after the election.
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