Serving Barnwell County and it's neighbors since 1852
The closure of Cascades has taken a toll on the City of Barnwell’s 2023-24 budget reflecting a 40 percent cut in the water and sewer department fund.
“It's important for our citizens to know that this affects our entire budget, which means we made cuts in all of our departments, not just the water and sewer,” said Mayor Marcus Rivera.
According to city administrator Lynn McEwen, when Cascades was fully operational they were paying around $840,000 annually.
“Cascades closing has been detrimental to the city’s current and future budget. We are trying to be very careful in how we move forward,” said McEwen at the June 30 city council meeting.
According to McEwen, the biggest issues are in the water and sewer budget. However, the city was able to shut down part of the plant which is not currently being operated to save money.
“As a large water and sewer user, this requires the city to cut back in its budget, both in water/sewer budget as well as general fund budget,” said McEwen.
“The city is allowed to pay the general fund a certain amount each year (depending on the budget) from the water and sewer fund. With the drop in the water/sewer budget, we cannot transfer any funding to the general fund, which is where all of the rest of the city budget comes from,” said McEwen.
Cascades was running on several large water and sewer lines: a six-inch line, a 10-inch line, and a 16-inch line.
“The rates they were following are on our website - $201.00 base for the 16” sewer line and a rate of $1.90 per 1,000 gallons, $101 base rate for the 10” water line with a $1.75 rate per 1,000 gallons, and ditto for the 6” water and sewer lines,” said McEwen. This totals the roughly $840,000 annual rate.
In the 2023-24 budget, the city noted a 26.89 percent decrease in revenue in the water and sewer fund. Some of the areas that were cut included overtime salaries, group insurance, a $20,000 cut to general supplies, a $10,000 cut to chemical supplies, a $40,000 cut to digital meters, a $25,000 cut in utilities, and a $25,000 cut to equipment.
Other aspects of the city budget include administration, police, fire, sanitation, and recreation.
“We have had to cut back on any extras that were in the budget in those departments to make the income and expenses work out,” said McEwen.
The police budget experienced a 1.93 percent decrease with a budget of $1,561,450 last year and $1,531,250 this year. Supplies, gas purchases, and court assessments were some of the areas that saw cuts.
The street and sanitation department saw a 4.2 percent decrease in their budget totaling $31,650. The fire department experienced the least amount of cuts with a 1.06 percent decrease from last year primarily in equipment.
A 7.50 percent decrease in the recreation department budget led to cuts in overtime salaries, park maintenance, equipment, and travel & training.
Overall, all areas experienced budgetary cuts aside from administration which showed an increase of 1.64 percent.
“As a council we've been blessed with great department leaders,” said Mayor Rivera. “Our department leaders, city administrator, and clerk strategically worked together to make the cuts needed, to somewhat weather the storm.”
Cascades’ Barnwell facility closed in July 2023 after being deemed an ‘underperforming plant.’ The announcement of the plant’s closure was made on April 25 alongside others in Oregon.
The Barnwell location – a 415,000-square-foot paper mill and converting plant– was fully staffed with 150 employees as of March.
A total of 300 employees across closing facilities were impacted by this closure costing a total of $20-$25 million, including severance.
According to Cascades, some employees were afforded opportunities to relocate. Others were left to look for new employment.
“Cascades will work closely with its 300 affected employees to mitigate the impact of this announcement. This will include, among other things, offering to relocate as many employees as possible to its other business units in the United States. Employees who cannot or do not wish to relocate to other plants will receive support in their search for other employment,” stated an April press release by the tissue company.
With the closure of this industry, the city is looking for solutions to bridge the gap in the budget and ways to keep industry in Barnwell.
“I personally have been researching other ways to help generate revenue for the city and it not be a burden on our citizens,” said Mayor Rivera. “I've also reached out to some of my peers and other leaders across the state for ideas.”
According to Mayor Rivera and McEwen, there has been interest in the building but nothing is definite yet.
“There has been great interest in the site and I am very confident that the building will be occupied here in the near future,” said Mayor Rivera. “Moving forward I think it's safe to say we need a contingency plan in place for matters such as this, also we can't rely on one business to carry the city.”
Mayor Rivera explained while supporting manufacturing and industrial industries in the city, he also hopes to see more small businesses grow.
“We've been blessed to see some growth in the small business arena, we just have to make sure we continue supporting their efforts within reason,” said Mayor Rivera.
