SALEM — Bend-area print shops want Bend-La Pine Schools to stop taking their customers, and they’ve given up asking nicely. A bill introduced Tuesday in Salem would block school districts from providing printing services to other government agencies and nonprofits.

Though it will have statewide effect, the bill was sparked by the concerns of eight Bend print shops and is being pushed by two Central Oregon lawmakers, Rep. Gene Whisnant, R-Sunriver, and Sen. Chris Telfer, R-Bend.

The print shop representatives say they met with the district to discuss their concerns, and the response they received amounted to a shrug. “There’s not a single one of us who has not lost a client to them,” said Larry Peterson, owner of Press Pros Printing Co. on Northeast Second Street.

He said that, in effect, his own property taxes are being used to subsidize a competitor.

“Should government be doing private enterprise work? That’s the real question for me.”

Terry Cashman, a school district supervisor whose responsibilities include the district’s print shop, said it provides services only to nonprofits and other government agencies to help keep costs down for taxpayers. He stressed that the district does not market its printing services except on its Web site.

“We’re trying to be a service for the schools, not trying to do anything to hurt them,” he said of the local printers’ group. “They’re patrons of our district, too. Their children are in our schools.”

A well-equipped operation

The district started its print shop more than a decade ago to provide vocational education classes to students. In recent years, however, the shop stopped teaching kids in order to focus on district work.

Located in the district’s warehouse on Northeast Ninth Street, it now employs five people full time. The operation made 15 million impressions, or copies, last year.

About 5 percent of its work, however, has been for nonprofits like the Central Oregon Environmental Center and other governmental agencies including Central Oregon Community College and the High Desert Educational Services District.

“They gave us some examples of their work, and it’s very high-quality, four-color work,” said Grover Simmons, a lobbyist for the Independent Employers Association, a group representing the Bend printers.

Rick Davis of Premier Printing Solutions on Southwest Emkay Street toured the district shop last week with Peterson and other local print representatives.

“It’s equipped better than a lot of the print shops in Bend,” Davis said.

What’s the cost?

The problem with that, Peterson said, is that the shop’s prices are not market-based — it does not have to take into account any rent, electricity or other expenses that private print shops do.

“I would agree,” said the district’s print operations manager, Brian McMahan, when told of Peterson’s concern. He and Cashman said they do not have a set pricing system for doing outside work; rather, each job is estimated differently.

“We’re not making huge profits off these jobs,” McMahan said.

He said the district has handled more than $30,000 of nondistrict work so far this school year.

But Peterson thinks the cost to the local economy is greater than that because in some cases, the district is charging a fraction of what local shops do for the same work.

Whisnant said the uneven playing field is what motivated him to float legislation.

“My objective is not to punish the school districts,” he said.

Different views

Deb Pertner is in charge of publications at the High Desert Educational Services District, and uses the Bend-La Pine district to print business cards, brochures and letterhead.

“I can’t find a print shop that can match their price,” she said. “We’re spending taxpayers’ money, so it’s definitely a bonus to cut costs. I’d hate for that to disappear.”

Telfer, however, doesn’t buy it. She said that many local print shops already offer cut-rate prices to nonprofits and government agencies, and in times like these, need every dollar they can get.

“The school district doesn’t have as great an urgency to keep people employed,” she said. “They’re not going to be laying people off because they’re not doing printing, whereas if our local businesses aren’t doing printing, yeah, they’re going to be laying people off.”