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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 2015)
4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 ‘Kicker’ will return $402.4 million Local football to Oregon taxpayers next tax season teams ready to By PETER WONG Capital Bureau SALEM — Oregonians can expect an average of $124 off their 2015 tax returns due in April 2016, according to the state’s latest economic and revenue forecast. State Economist MarN Mc- Mullen said Wednesday that the amount of excess income tax collections from the pre- vious two-year budget cycle is $402.4 million, down from the $473 million forecast May 14. He said tax collections dipped more than anticipated in late spring and the result is the smaller amount. Wednesday’s forecast is the ¿rst of the new budget cycle, and also is the one immediate- ly after the close of the 2013- 15 cycle. 8nliNe the practice for the past two decades, the excess — Nnown as the “NicNer” — will be returned to individual taxpayers in the form of a cred- it against the following year’s tax bills. LawmaNers in 2011 ended the practice of mailing checNs directly to taxpayers that was started in 1995. The average rebate of $124 is for Oregon median incomes — half of them above and half below — ranging from $30,000 to $35,000. Because the rebate is based on liability, higher-income households will get far more than the average; low-income households will get as little as $10. The most recent NicNer was in 2007, when $1.1 billion was rebated a few months before the of¿cial start of the latest economic downturn. A 1979 law, which voters wrote into the Oregon Consti- tution in 2000, requires a re- bate of excess taxes when ac- tual collections exceed budget projections by 2 percent. The law also applies to corporate income taxes, but in 2012, voters earmarNed any excess collections of corporate taxes for the state school fund. That amount is built into the current state budget cycle that started July 1. Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Mark Hollander, a hotelier based in Bellingham, Wash., speaks during a Port of Astoria meeting Tuesday. Port: µWe’d liNe to have literally a 99-year-lease’ Continued from Page 1A Hollander said his pref- erence is to go into a short- term lease between 90 and 180 days to assess the prop- erty and operation. His and the Port’s attorney have been worNing on a short-term agreement since late last month, and Hollander said he would be able to taNe over the hotel within two days of that agreement being signed. “I’m prepared to taNe negative cash flow during this short lease period to do my due diligence, and pre- pare for a long-term lease,” Hollander said. The Port estimates Brad Smithart, the current opera- tor of the hotel through his company Hospitality Mas- ters, owes the Port and city upward of $400,000, along with tax liens. When asNed about paying them off, Hol- lander said Smithart’s debts can fit into a larger project, adding he wants to put $1.5 million into the hotel. Hollander also talNed about fixing up the roads, landscaping and ChinooN Building around the hotel. LiNe the RiverwalN Inn, Hollander said it will taNe time to determine wheth- er the building housing the long-vacant Seafare Restau- rant & Lounge is still sal- vageable, adding he could turn the former restaurant into a meeting space until the marNet is ready for an- other restaurant. “We’d liNe to have literal- ly a 99-year lease,” Holland- er said of the long-term. The Port Commission re- cently voted unanimously to continue negotiating a short- term agreement with Hol- lander, but to also develop an open bidding process in which Hollander would have to compete with a growing number of suitors for the RiverwalN Inn. Hollander said he would not be willing to compete in that process. He, Knight and the commission met in a closed executive session af- ter the meeting to discuss his proposal more in-depth. Everybody gets a turn Preceding Hollander’s presentations were pitches by several other suitors for the hotel during public com- ment. Ganesh SonpatNi, a Port- land operator of nine budget hotels through Param Hotel Group, has been courting Chester Trabucco speaks at the Port meeting Tuesday. Joshua Bessex The Daily Astorian Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Brad Smithart speaks during the Port meeting Tuesday. Smithart since late last year. The Port Commission voted in early June to have staff worN on transferring the RiverwalN Inn lease from Smithart to SonpatNi. But the deal never final- ized. The Port terminated Smithart’s contract in early July. And it has been trying since to evict him without shutting down the hotel. SonpatNi’s lawyer, Colin Hunter, announced late last month SonpatNi was pre- pared to sue if the Port didn’t honor their agreement. On Tuesday, he showed up with a $273,000 cashier’s checN he said was to pay Smi- thart’s debts with the Port as of June. Hunter also brought transfer consent he said was completed Aug. 4 and signed by all parties but the Port. All that has to be done, he said, is for the Port to cancel Smithart’s eviction, sign the transfer, taNe the checN and move on. But the Port contends there is no lease to transfer to SonpatNi. Former Hotel Elliott de- veloper Chester Trabucco recently came forward as a contender for the hotel in partnership with native Astorian William Orr in a company called Astoria Hospitality Ventures. Orr is a lawyer who also leads a seafood processing company in Seattle. Trabucco said it was he who called Commissioner Stephen Fulton and asNed him if SonpatNi’s proposal to operate a budget hotel in the RiverwalN Inn was the best use of the building. “I started that mess, but I thinN you have more interest in the hotel now,” he said. At Tuesday’s meeting, Trabucco presented a 90-day contract to operate the hotel in the short-term, adding he and Orr have made available $350,000 to pay off Smi- thart’s debts. Trabucco pre- sented a vision of restoring the RiverwalN Inn and Sea- fare restaurant bacN to their original glory. Moreover, Trabucco said, he, Orr and SonpatNi are in daily contact and willing to worN together on operation of the hotel. It was unclear how linNed the proposals from the Param Group and Hospitality Ventures are. Ann Samuelson, a real es- tate broNer from Seaside and former Clatsop County com- missioner, came to represent her client, James Mulloy, owner of the Comfort Suites through Malbco Holdings LLC. He owns 10 hotels, she said, and is interested in in- vesting in Astoria, the hotel and the restaurant. Samuelson said the Port should looN at selling the hotel to get some money for other industrial projects creating more living-wage jobs. Dissatisfied customer “Many people have failed in business, and I’m one of them,” said Smithart, who approached during public comment to share his disgust over what he said has been disrespectful treatment by Knight and the Port. “Being a tenant and be- ing slandered by the Port for failing at business is offend- ing,” Smithart said, adding the way he has been spoNen to by Knight is disgusting, and the last time he tried to talN with Knight about his lease, he was thrown out of the Port’s offices. Smithart has said he wants to get out of the hotel and focus on the arcade he opened in downtown Asto- ria. He also maintains that he has offered a solution to his debt the Port hasn’t taNen, referring to SonpatNi. Smithart said he has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fixing up a run- down hotel and pays about $700,000 in payroll. jam(boree) The Daily Astorian The Astoria Fishermen will be hosting a big foot- ball jamboree summit Fri- day at Columbia Memorial Field. Six freshman/sopho- more teams will be partici- pating, along with nine var- sity teams. The freshman/sopho- more jamboree begins at 2 p.m., followed by the varsi- ty jamboree at 6 p.m. Gates open at 12:30 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students, between 12:30 to 5 p.m. Admission increases to $6 for adults and $4 for students after 5 p.m., for the varsity jambo- ree. Only OSAA coaches cards can be used for free admission. No other passes will be accepted. Due to the number of teams and spectators ex- pected, overÀow parNing will be provided at the Astoria High School main parNing lot. Shuttle service will be provided by the As- toria School District. Shut- tles will run every 15 min- utes beginning at 5 p.m., and will continue until 7:30 p.m. Shuttle service will then resume at the conclu- sion of the jamboree. 3arNing issues at CMH have been addressed, said Astoria head coach and Ath- letic Director Howard Rub. ³:e thinN parNing for a big game will be tight,” he said. “But there are 500 spaces here, which is more than we ever had at John Warren. We never really had any parNing downtown. “We¶ll maNe it worN. For the jamboree, we are going to run shuttles from the high school, because we have nine teams coming here. We¶re expecting a pacNed facility. We can seat 1,200 in the grandstand, and we ¿gure to be close to that. We are going to rotate a shuttle from the high school parN- ing lot.” The school will “prob- ably not” run a shuttle for other home games this year. Although, “If things go well in our nonleague sea- son liNe we hope, the open- ing game with Scappoose might need some parNing help with the shuttle,” Rub said. The varsity jamboree will be divided into three Pools: A-Seaside, Warren- ton, Ilwaco B-ClatsNanie, TillamooN, <amhill-Carl- ton; C-Astoria, Estacada, Stayton. Teams from each pool will play on half of the ¿eld. Teams from Pools A and B will begin at 6 p.m., teams from Pool C will begin at approximately 6:30. Each team will run 36 offensive plays. Knappa will be partici- pating in a four-team jam- boree Friday at Nestucca. SCOREBOARD PREP SCHEDULE THURSDAY Volleyball — Astoria at Santiam Christian, 1 p.m.; Knappa at War- renton, 6:30 p.m. Cross Country — Seaside at Wil- sonville Night Meet, 7 p.m. FRIDAY Football — Astoria Jamboree, at CMH Field, 5 p.m. (with Clatskanie, Estacada, Ilwaco, Seaside, Stayton, Warrenton, Yamhill-Carlton); Neah- Kah-Nie Jamboree, 7 p.m. Volleyball — Knappa at Neah- Kah-Nie, 6 p.m. SATURDAY Volleyball — Warrenton Tourna- ment, 8:30 a.m.; Knappa at Colum- bia Christian Tournament, TBA :LW[LTILY ^^^YHJL[V[OLIHYJVT >OV! You (walker or runner) >OH[! 5K walk/run or 10K run, followed by a bonfire on the beach >OLU! 5:30 p.m., Sept. 12, 2015 >OLYL! Peter Iredale Shipwreck at Fort Stevens State Park, Warrenton, Oregon /V^! Register online at www.RaceToTheBar.com. *VZ[! $40 before Aug. 30, includes a shirt. $45 on Aug. 30 or later, shirt not guaranteed. /LSW[VWYV]PKLOVZWPJLJHYLMVY[OVZLPUULLK ([FKDQJH6WUHHW$VWRULD2UHJRQ÷ ZZZFROXPELDPHPRULDORUJ÷$7SHUL[YLL+LZPNUH[LK ė +RVSLWDO