C8 THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, MARCH 7, 2021
Smarty Pits
Continued from C1
Some of the new businesses
to the area in the past year
brought in by the Economic
Development for Central Or-
egon nonprofit are: Daydream
HQ and Nechville in Sisters,
SmartyPits, Volansi in Bend
and Prineville, Cognitive Sur-
plus in Redmond, I3D in Red-
mond, Algofy in Redmond,
and Cognito in Sisters.
“Some people have called
the pandemic ‘the great pause,’”
said Adam Krynicki, Oregon
State University-Cascades In-
novation Co-Lab executive
director. “It’s caused a lot of
people to stop and think about
their lifestyle. They’re coming
to Bend because it’s the perfect
place to balance work, play and
family. We have a growing tech
community, a great support
system for entrepreneurs, some
of the best skiing in the coun-
try, great schools, a four-year
university – and the list just
keeps growing.”
The groundwork has been
laid by pioneers like Picky Bars,
Laird Superfood and Hydro-
flask that created the support
system in place for new young
firms to take root in Central
Oregon, said Katy Brooks, Bend
Chamber of Commerce CEO.
“The lifestyle here is very
compelling and if the opportu-
nity to move here presents itself,
businesses jump on it,” Brooks
said. “In large part what’s be-
hind so many (businesses)
moving in a short period of
time is a result of the pandemic
and the recent trend of moving
away from large urban areas.”
Callicott
Continued from C1
This means the average Ore-
gon driver buys on average 560
gallons of gas per year.
One downside of the VMT
and our current gas tax is that
they are not adjusted for in-
come level. Someone earning
the Oregon minimum-wage,
$11.25 per hour ($23,400 an-
nually), pays proportionately
more than a high-wage earner,
for example making $50 per
hour (over $104,000 annually).
The average driver pays almost
$305 per year in gas tax. That’s
1.3% of the annual income for
the minimum-wage earner,
but only 0.2% for the high-
wage earner.
So what’s the point? Tech-
nology can help smooth out
the rough spots with the pro-
posed VMT tax. Tying to-
gether data from the DMV, de-
vices installed in cars, and the
Oregon Department of Rev-
enue could create a system of
fair and equitable taxation to
keep our transportation infra-
structure up-to-date.
Both Washington and Ore-
gon may use technology, such
as plugin devices for vehicles
which would measure the
mileage, the place and time.
This would allow them to in-
centivize off-peak-time usage
of critical roadways such as
highly congested corridors, or
discounts for using alternative
routes. However, some older
vehicles are not equipped with
the required device port, so
some alternative method must
be available for these excep-
tions, most likely manual.
If you’re hitting a traffic
mess south of Portland at
rush-hour, those miles logged
may have a surcharge per-mile
added for peak-usage. Travel
that same area at 2pm or 7pm
may provide a discounted rate.
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Deodorant products are displayed at SmartyPits in Bend on Feb. 25.
In addition, Central Oregon
offers tax advantages for busi-
nesses from enterprise zones
for building in specific areass
and even cash incentives for
providing jobs.
Jeff DeRoux, co-owner of
Rainier Precision had until
this year been working Seat-
tle where the company was
founded by his grandparents.
When his lease was up, DeR-
oux began looking around for
a 1-acre location for his custom
plastic injection molding man-
ufacturer. Rainier Precision
primarily makes Dri-Z-Air,
dehumidifers and also custom
plastic parts.
Not satisfied with any place
to move his family to, DeRoux
cast a wider net that landed him
in Central Oregon. Once here
he learned of the tax incentives
offered by the county and state
and settled on a 1-acre site. He
said throughout the process
that began in 2018, he realized
that he needed a place that of-
fered a haven for his family to
live and play in and a place for
him to grow his business.
DeRoux found his place in
Redmond, in an enterprise
zone that offered incentives for
bringing in new jobs and build-
ing a facility.
“We found a welcoming busi-
ness climate,” he said. “The de-
ciding factor to move here was
that we could do more things
outdoors. In Seattle, we were
limited to sunny days and sum-
mer. We love to bike and that
has been one of the biggest im-
provements for us, our quality
of life. My daughter can see the
wildlife. We can go biking.”
Like SmartyPits, DeRoux
found that with the help of
Economic Development for
Central Oregon, the move was
made smoother and easier.
“They connected me with
people who could solve prob-
lems and made it easier for us
to come here,” DeRoux said.
“It’s pretty scary to pull up a
manufacturing business with
machinery and employees and
relocate to a place. Everyone is
happy.”
The Pew Research Center
found that 7 in 10 people who
If you rideshare with others
and use high-occupancy-vehi-
cle lanes (with a digital tracker
installed in the car), the tax
may be heavily discounted or
even credited. Oregon has only
one HOV lane in the entire
state, north of Portland on I-5.
This may change if a VMT tax
incentivizes use.
While writing this article,
I signed up for Oregon’s Or-
eGo (www.MyOreGo.org),
which is the voluntary VMT
tax program for vehicles with
20 equivalent mpg or better.
It’s not in addition to the ex-
isting taxes and registration
fee increases, the program
offsets the normal fees with
those paid through the OreGo
program. I install a device,
provided by Azuga with GPS
tracking, which plugs into the
OBDII port found in most
vehicles manufactured since
1996. This device also includes
free perks, such as: Visual trip
logs (GPS only), engine trou-
ble code help, battery voltage
alerts, location alerts for track-
ing teen drivers (GPS only),
and hassle-free, electronic
emission testing (for ICE and
hybrid vehicles).
The biggest issue is user
adoption. Many drivers are re-
luctant to install a device pro-
vided by the government (state
or federal) in their car which
gathers data on their travels,
which seems ironic as they are
more than willing to give their
implicit permission to compa-
nies like Google, Wayze, Face-
book, Apple and many others
to collect it from their mobile
phones or car apps for com-
mercial use. Opening the tech
device options for consumers
to purchase directly from ven-
dors of their choice would al-
leviate some of this angst and
increase competition thereby
driving innovation and price
reductions.
Bottomline, we need to re-
vamp our gas tax to some
other model which generates
the revenue needed to main-
tain our transportation infra-
structure, adjusts taxes to be
more equitable, provides in-
centives for better use of our
roads, and decreases traffic
on critical roadways during
peak times. Sign up for Orego,
it’s painless and will provide
valuable data to ODOT to
help them refine the systems
and processes to support the
VMT tax. Those with electric
vehicles will benefit the most
as the OreGo program waives
increases in vehicle registra-
tion fees, and EV owners had
the highest fee increases last
year. The VMT tax isn’t per-
fect, but it’s a start in the right
direction.
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can do their work from home
are now working from home
most of the time. That fact has
allowed much more move-
ment, said Ben Hemson, Bend
city Business Advocate. When
business is going well and the
economy chugging along, it’s
difficult to convince businesses
to pick up and move, Hemson
said.
While it’s harder to get a
manufacturer to pull up stakes
and relocate, many of the new
businesses moving to Central
Oregon are outdoor companies
or professional services, Hem-
son said.
“We’re seeing folks locally
that are expanding,” he said.
“There’s a potential that creates
churn to open up spaces.”
Central Oregon attracts a
certain kind of owner, said Don
Myll, Economic Development
for Central Oregon area di-
rector. When a business needs
to relocate and that decision
is based upon livability, Bend
and Central Oregon are a no-
brainer, Myll said.
SmartyPits is the kind of
company that the economic de-
velopment nonprofit seeks out,
said Don Myll, Economic De-
velopment for Central Oregon
area director. Innovative prod-
uct, a green product, and em-
ploys multiple people.
“They expect to double their
employment growth in a year
or so,” Myll said. The average
employer in Bend has nine em-
ployees and they’re well above
that. We don’t have a lot of con-
sumer products companies. It’s
not one of our core sectors.”
e e
Reporter: 541-633-2117,
sroig@bendbulletin.com
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Preston Callicott is the SVP for Effectual
Inc. and is a self-described tech
humanist who wants to embed the
best of human traits in AI systems and
robotics … before they rule the world.
His wife, Chelsea, and twins remind
him how great life is and that work isn’t
everything.