News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Representative Gene Whisnant (R-Sunriver) recently introduced legislation that would make explicit in law the argument that school districts and other entities cannot issue "Full Faith and Credit Obligations" without a vote of the people.
"This was requested by the gentleman in Sisters, Mike Morgan," Whisnant told The Nugget. "This is in response to what happened in Sisters."
Morgan filed suit against the Sisters School District in Deschutes County Circuit Court last May ("Morgan files suit against school district," The Nugget, June 4, 2008). He wants to stop the district from making any further payments on $2.1 million in Full Faith and Credit Obligations the district issued the previous spring to fund replacement of the elementary school roof and other facilities needs.
The suit argues that the Full Faith and Credit Obligations agreed to by the school board on March 12, 2007, are in fact bonds and the school board should not have obligated the district without a vote of the taxpayers.
The school district used a funding mechanism that has been used elsewhere in the state and the school board is confident of its legality.
Whisnant said the legislation, crafted by a first-year law student on his staff, does not change the law but merely "amplifies" what is in current law.
"My intent is so that school districts understand that they can't do what Sisters has done and get in trouble," Whisnant said. "You can't obligate the taxpayers without a vote of the people."
The interpretation of the law regarding Full Faith and Credit Obligations currently resides in the courts, where legal maneuvering is underway, but no substantive action has taken place.
The school district contends that the funding mechanism they used is legal and widely accepted.
The bill has been assigned to the House Revenue Committee, but it is a long way from reaching the floor for a vote that would enact it.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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