NEW SERIES EXAMINES IMPACT • INSIDE
147TH YEAR, NO. 127
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2020
$1.50
CORONAVIRUS
PURPLE AND GOLD
Feds fund
new tent
for local
shipwright
A $573,000 federal grant
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Astoria-based WCT Marine & Con-
struction, one of the few remaining ship-
wrights in the region, has secured a
$573,000 federal grant to build a self-con-
tained outside work area at North Tongue
Point.
The U.S. Maritime Administration pro-
vided the grant through its Small Ship-
yard Grant Program. WCT will match
$191,000. Carol and Willie Toristoja
started at North Tongue Point several years
ago , eventually buying out the neighboring
J&H Boatworks and Columbia Steel Sup-
ply and nearing 50 employees at times.
Remi Toristoja, an in-law of the family
and offi ce manager with Columbia Steel,
wrote the grant with consultant Bill Cook,
a former Port of Astoria administrator.
The company’s been applying for three
years, Remi Toristoja said, while slowly
The Astoria Column glowed purple at sunset on Friday night in honor of Astoria High School’s Class of 2020, whose senior year was interrupted
by the coronavirus. The colors switched between purple and gold until dawn.
See Shipwright, Page A6
Loss of lodging taxes a blow to cities
Wellness
provider
responds
to virus
Crossfi eld is a
health educator
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
fter living in India
on and off for four
years, Paula Crossfi eld
moved to Astoria in 2018,
where she runs a business
as a health educator spe-
cializing in essential oils
and Ayurveda, an ancient
Indian health science and
sister science to yoga.
She started practicing
yoga about 20 years ago
while she was in college.
“I thought yoga was
mostly just about stretch-
ing your body and feeling
less stressed for about 10
years,” she said. “And I did
A
See Crossfi eld, Page A7
Paula Crossfi eld moved
to Astoria in 2018.
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
C
ities on the North Coast have
outlawed short-term lodg-
ing and pleaded with tour-
ists to stay home to help prevent the
spread of the coronavirus .
But entering budget season,
local governments face millions
of dollars in lost lodging tax reve-
nue that, along with an uncertainty
about property taxes, has leaders
wondering how to continue opera-
tions with no clear source of state
or federal support.
Seaside, by far the city most
dependent on tourism, estimates
that more than $1 million will
be lost in lodging taxes through
the end of the fi scal year in June.
Astoria estimates a loss of around
$500,000, while Warrenton projects
$250,000.
Warrenton, where Mayor Henry
Balensifer said visitors at Fort Ste-
vens State Park and private camp-
grounds can double the city’s
population, was the fi rst to ban rec-
reational camping, short-term rent-
als and hotel stays for all but essen-
tial workers. The city also stopped
disconnecting water and sewer for
customers with late payments, cost-
ing it an estimated $20,000, and has
frozen utility rates and other fees.
Gov. Kate Brown has eased
requirements on holding budget
meetings but has kept the same
June 30 deadline for cities to have
new spending plans .
Warrenton City Manager Linda
Engbretson, used to austerity with-
out the pandemic, said the city’s
proposed budget was an estimated
$115,000 in the hole, including
the departments’ various asks and
losses from coronavirus.
Staff have cut new police and fi re
vehicles, along with badly needed
administrative help, in an attempt
to cobble together a balanced bud-
get to the City Commission on May
16. They’re planning to begin the
new fi scal year with $50,000 in
reserve, compared to $110,000 this
fi scal year . That beginning balance
has to get the city through the fi rst
several months of the fi scal year
before property taxes start com-
ing in, said April Clark, the city’s
fi nance director.
“That’s another concern, is we
don’t know how people are going to
react to this, whether or not they’ll
be able to make their tax payments
in November,” Engbretson said. “It
Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
With the beach blocked off and hotels under restrictions, Seaside sits empty at a time when tourists usually fl ood
the coast.
$1 MILLION
Estimated loss for Seaside
$500,000
Estimated loss for Astoria
$250,000
Estimated loss for Warrenton
Fort Stevens State Park and the neighboring KOA campground are closed
by government restrictions.
takes three years for the county to
foreclose, so if you’re behind on
everything, you may choose to put
food on your table rather than pay
property taxes.”
Cuts are coming
In a recent Astoria City Council
meeting, City Manager Brett Estes
echoed Engbretson’s comments
about the uncertainty over property
taxes on top of the loss in lodging
taxes. The city has taken the route
of creating a similar proposed bud-
get to this year’s, with a prioritized
list of cuts to account for a loss of
revenue.
“We know that we’re going
to have to come back with some
revised budgets at some point next
(fi scal) year,” said Susan Brooks,
Astoria’s director of fi nance.
“Because there are just too many
unknowns to be reasonably close.”
Asked where the cuts might
likely come from, Estes said parks
facilities, including the Astoria
Aquatic Center, likely won’t restart
for some time, fi rst because of
social distancing orders and later
because of the lack of lodging taxes
and fee revenue.
See Lodging taxes, Page A7