How did College Bond pass when it failed in Wasco County?
Columbia Gorge Community College Hood River Campus at 1730 College Way.
By Tom Peterson
The Dalles, Ore., Nov. 5, 2024 — Voters in Wasco County who were against the Columbia Gorge Community College Bond are wondering how voters in Hood River County helped pass the $13 million debt over 13 years.
“Wait so Hood River County votes on taxation in Wasco County WTF??,” asked one person on Facebook.
That’s a yes or no.
If you look at the vote as an “us and them” situation, you could come to that conclusion.
However, voters in parts of both counties agreed to share the load when it comes to CGCC bonds many years ago.
The way it works, Columbia Gorge Community College’s tax district includes portions of Wasco and Hood River counties.
Map of The Columbia Gorge Community College Taxing District, which is shaded in a rose-purple. It spreads across portions of Wasco and Hood River counties.
This was agreed upon in a measure that passed in 2008 when a Hood River Campus for CGCC was established.
Since then, the vote count from both counties has been combined when deciding if a bond passes or not.
The Majority of Wasco County voters voted no on the CGCC Bond.
The Majority of Hood River County voters voted Yes on the CGCC Bond.
When the total number of yes and no votes from each county were combined, a majority yes vote passed the bond.
Click here to learn more about the bond and what it will pay for.
This is not the only tax district including Wasco County that works on cumulative vote counts from multiple counties.
The NORCOR Jail tax district includes Gilliam, Sherman, Wasco and Hood River counties and in fact, Wasco County Voters were able to kill a bond for the jail in 2017 when the majority of voters in the other three counties had a majority in favor.
