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About Coast river business journal. (Astoria, OR) 2006-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 2019)
COAST RIVER BUSINESS JOURNAL Local credit union supports hospital ILWACO — TLC, a division of Fibre Federal Credit Union, has partnered with selected col- leges and hospitals within its field of membership for a multi- year grant program. From 2018 to 2020, TLC will distribute $87,000 in grants to four college foun- dations and eight hospital foun- dations. One of the grant recipi- ents is the Ocean Beach Hospital Foundation. Funding from TLC’s multi- year grant will aid in the pur- chase of a new CT scanner, which delivers half the radiation as their old machine, which was the sec- ond oldest one in the state. Foun- dation Trustee Tammie Jefferies says, “We appreciate TLC’s gen- erous donation. Partnerships like this help ensure we can provide the best possible service to our patients.” Every year, TLC makes numer- ous charitable donations to com- munity organizations through its Community Investment Program. This program is a focused effort to use financial contributions and volunteer efforts to improve education, health services, and quality of life within its service area. In 2018, TLC contributed $221,409 community impact dol- lars. For more information about TLC’s Investment Program, visit tlcfcu.org. Clatsop closing costs low, Pacific’s high ASTORIA — Clatsop County currently is the eighth-low- est home-purchase closing costs among Oregon’s 36 counties, according to financial manage- ment firm SmartAsset. The firm’s fifth annual sur- vey found that closing costs aver- age $3,392 or about 1.3% of the value of a median-price $253,900 house. Going by percentage of home value, Clackamas is the lowest-cost county at 1.1%. Costs are highest in Gilliam County, running 2.6% of the median home price there. In Washington state, which imposes a hefty excise tax on home sales, closing costs in Pacific County averaged $5,888 in the latest survey, or 3.6% of the value of a median price $163,400 SEptEmBER 2019 • 5 BUSINESS BRIEFS safely at the end of each day.” 48,508 policyholders are eligi- ble for SAIF’s primary dividend. Of those, about 93.9% are also eligible to receive all or a portion of the additional safety perfor- mance dividend. “In addition to dividends, we are proud to offer our customers some of the lowest rates, best-in- class service, and the largest net- work of workplace safety profes- sionals of any insurance carrier in Oregon,” said Barnett. “Our goal is to deliver workers’ comp that really works.” Checks will be mailed in Octo- ber to eligible employers. IRS automatically waives estimated tax penalty CONtRIBUtED Shannon Cahoon, tLC community development manager (center), presents a donation check to Ocean Beach Hospital Foundation trustee tammie Jefferies (left) and Foundation Vice president Joan porter (right). house, SmartAsset said. See survey details at https:// smartasset.com/mortgage/ closing-costs#us. Oregon SAIF customers to receive $160M in dividends OREGON — In August SAIF’s board of directors declared a $120 million primary dividend to be paid to policyhold- ers based on their premium, and a $40 million safety performance dividend to be paid based on each policyholder’s safety results. This is the 10th year in a row SAIF has been able to offer div- idends, and the 22nd dividend in the past 30 years. “As a not-for-profit with a public mission to make workers’ comp available and affordable, paying dividends is an important part of the value we offer Ore- gon employers,” said Kerry Bar- nett, president and CEO of SAIF. “SAIF is the only insurance car- rier in Oregon that regularly returns dividends to policyhold- ers at this level.” SAIF determines whether a policyholder dividend is appro- priate based on capital levels, claim trends, and the overall eco- nomic environment. This year SAIF has seen strong investment returns and favorable trends in injury prevention and claim cost containment. The safety performance div- idend rewards policyholders for their claims experience for poli- cies whose annual term ended in 2018, based on a scale ranging from zero to 10.6% of their stan- dard premium. “Our vision is to make Oregon the safest and healthiest place to work,” said Barnett. “We appre- ciate our policyholders’ efforts to ensure their workers go home WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Internal Revenue Service is auto- matically waiving the estimated tax penalty for the more than 400,000 eligible taxpayers who already filed their 2018 federal income tax returns but did not claim the waiver. The IRS will apply this waiver to tax accounts of all eligible tax- payers, so there is no need to con- tact the IRS to apply for or request the waiver. Earlier this year, the IRS lowered the usual 90% penalty threshold to 80% to help taxpay- ers whose withholding and esti- mated tax payments fell short of their total 2018 tax liability. The agency also removed the require- ment that estimated tax payments be made in four equal install- ments, as long as they were all made by Jan. 15, 2019. The 90% threshold was initially lowered to 85% on Jan 16 and further low- ered to 80% on March 22. The automatic waiver applies to any individual taxpayer who paid at least 80% of their total tax liability through federal income tax withholding or quarterly esti- mated tax payments but did not claim the special waiver avail- able to them when they filed their 2018 return earlier this year. “The IRS is taking this step to help affected taxpayers,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “This waiver is designed to pro- vide relief to any person who filed too early to take advantage of the waiver or was unaware of it when they filed.” EDC director is good sport for charity CONtRIBUtED Jim Sayce, executive director of the pacific County Economic Develop- ment Council, spent lots of time in the water earlier this summer at Long Beach’s annual birthday cele- bration for Jake the Alligator man. the dunk tank raises funds for good causes — this year, a skatepark for young people. LB Dooger’s becomes Drop Anchor Seafood and Grill LONG BEACH — On Aug. 1, the former Long Beach Dooger’s Seafood and Grill became the Drop Anchor Seafood and Grill. The Dooger’s franchise, which at one point had locations in Cannon Beach, Warrenton, Long Beach and Seaside, is now down to its original location in Seaside. In March of this year, the War- renton location closed; the build- ing, owned by Atlas Investments, remains unoccupied. On the other hand, at the Long Beach location, opened in 1995 near the corner of Sid Snyder and Pacific, little has changed except the name. Long-time manager Barry Craft, who had owned the location since buying it from Dooger’s franchise owner Doug Weiss in 2005, sold it to employee Cindy Hillard and her husband, Ed Hillard Jr, at which point the franchise relationship ended. The Hillards’ son, Ed Hil- lard III, is running the restaurant and renamed it the Drop Anchor. The original Doogers, which opened in Seaside in 1983, is now run by Weiss’s son, Carnegie.