THE BULLETIN • TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2021 A11
A11
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2021
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BRIEFING
Industry pushing
COVID-19 ‘passports’
Leading airline and
business groups are
asking the Biden ad-
ministration to develop
temporary credentials
that would let travelers
show they have been
tested and vaccinated for
COVID-19, a step that the
airline industry believes
will help revive travel.
Various groups and
countries are working on
developing so-called vac-
cine passports aimed at
allowing more travel. But
airlines fear that a smat-
tering of regional creden-
tials will cause confusion
and none will be widely
accepted.
“It is crucial to establish
uniform guidance” and
“the U.S. must be a leader
in this development,”
more than two dozen
groups said in a letter
Monday to White House
coronavirus-response
coordinator Jeff Zients.
However, the groups said
that vaccination should
not be a requirement for
domestic or international
travel.
The groups include
the main U.S. and inter-
national airline trade
organizations, airline la-
bor unions and the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce.
The White House did not
immediately comment.
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bendbulletin.com/business
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Yellen optimistic
about labor market
U.S. Treasury Secre-
tary Janet Yellen said the
Biden administration is
working toward getting
the labor market “back on
track” by later this year or
early in 2022.
“We’re really con-
cerned about permanent
scarring from this crisis,
and it’s focused us very
heavily on doing every-
thing we can to get back
on track as quickly as
we can,” Yellen said in a
virtual discussion with
International Monetary
Fund Managing Direc-
tor Kristalina Georgieva
Monday. “By next year I
think there’s a prospect
that — with an all-out
effort on vaccination
and reopening schools
— that we can really get
the labor market back
on track, later this year or
next year.”
There were nearly
10 million unemployed
Americans in Febru-
ary, almost double the
pre-pandemic level, un-
derscoring a lengthy road
to recovery for the labor
market.
— Bulletin wire reports
EURO
$1.1858 -.0054
Bend’s median home price holds in February
Bulletin staff report
The median sales price for a sin-
gle-family home in Bend remained
about the same as it was since the start
of the year, but was more than $100,000
higher than the same period the year
before, according to the Beacon Report
for Central Oregon.
Home sales held strong because in-
ventory remained low and a large share
of the market sales data are in the mil-
lion-dollar plus category, said Donnie
Montagner, owner of the Beacon Ap-
praisal Group of Redmond. The median
sales price was $575,000 in Bend and
$373,000 in Redmond during February.
And typical of this time of year, the
number of sales dropped to 117 in
Bend, a decline from the high of 318
sales in the month of July.
“We’re in a seller’s market,” Mon-
tagner said, “beyond a doubt. People
are discovering the value of Redmond.
Redmond is the next step if you’re
priced out of the market in Bend.”
Homebuyers, especially those from
out of town, find Bend attractive, Mon-
tagner said. That is what is driving up
the median sales price.
“Bend is a jewel in the middle of Ore-
gon, and the other communities around it
become in high demand as well,” he said.
The Beacon Report uses the median
sales price, which is the midpoint value
of all transactions in a month.
In both Redmond and Bend, homes
were on the market an average of four days.
If no new homes came on the market, the
current level of inventory of homes for sale
would last about a week. The growth in
home prices is being fueled, in part by low
interest rates and the lack of inventory.
Sunriver, with a smaller sample size
to draw from, has seen more high-end
properties sell in recent months, bump-
ing up the median single-family home
price to $771,000 in February, according
to the report.
OREGON
TOURISM
BOOST
Baxter, Moderna
strike vaccine deal
Baxter International
will work with Moderna
to help manufacture
COVID-19 vaccines, the
company announced
Monday.
Baxter has agreed to
help manufacture about
60 million to 90 million
doses in 2021, the Deer-
field, Illinois-based com-
pany said in a news re-
lease. Baxter will fill vials
with vaccine and finish
the packaging process.
The work will take
place at Baxter Bio-
Pharma Solutions’ fa-
cilities in Bloomington,
Indiana, which employs
more than 700 people
on a 600,000-square-foot
campus.
“Baxter is honored to
provide our deep exper-
tise in vaccine manufac-
turing to help partners
like Moderna bolster
the supply of their vac-
cine,” Marie Keeley, vice
president for Baxter Bio-
Pharma Solutions, said in
the news release.
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Projects in Central, Eastern Oregon get funding
The Observer (La Grande)
The Oregon Tourism
Commission has awarded
$913,000 to 34 projects across the
state, with more than $175,000
going to seven projects in Central
and Eastern Oregon.
The grants will help fund the
development or enhancement of
COVID-19-appropriate visitor ex-
periences through the Destination
Ready program, according to a news
release from the commission, which
does business as Travel Oregon.
In Central and Eastern Oregon,
grant amounts and the organizations
receiving the awards are:
• $40,000 to the Central Oregon
Visitors Association to launch the
Navigate Oregon transportation pi-
lot project in partnership with Ore-
gon-based transportation company,
Northwest Navigator.
• 12,500 to Discover Your Forest to
help install trailhead signs in the De-
Bulletin file photos
ABOVE: In this 2016 photo, a
group of hikers stops to take
a look at Tumalo Falls from
the upper viewpoint while
visiting the area. AT TOP: The
view in this 2015 photo shows
Big Indian Canyon toward the
Steens Mountain summit.
schutes and Ochoco national forests
to promote stewardship.
• $21,711 to the Greater Hells Can-
yon Council to help with mapping
and trail maintenance operations
for The Blue Mountains Trail, a 556-
mile thru-hiking experience through
Northeast Oregon.
• $20,000 to the Eastern Oregon
Visitors Association for land stew-
ardship and maintenance efforts to
prepare Eastern Oregon’s most visited
public lands for the coming season,
including the Wallowa Whitman Na-
tional Forest, The Owyhee Region,
The Steens Mountain Wilderness and
the Alvord Desert.
• $24,500 to the Eastern Oregon
Visitors Association for updates to six
Eastern Oregon Farm Trail brochures
with distribution, and creation of a
new on-the-ground kiosk.
• $25,000 to the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife to make
infrastructure and accessibility im-
provements to establish Marr Pond as
the only ADA accessible fishing facil-
ity in Wallowa County.
• $35,000 to the city of John Day to
create a community “pit stop” with
food truck stalls, improved parking
and new public restrooms.
COVID-19 | Economic impact
Oregon businesses are, by and large, still in business
BY MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
Scores of beloved Oregon businesses
permanently shut their doors during the
pandemic, unable to endure the pro-
longed downturn as safety restrictions
limited business — or customers simply
stayed away.
With COVID-19 cases in steep decline
since mid-January, though, and govern-
ment restrictions easing, there’s reason for
optimism that the pandemic’s ultimate
toll on individual businesses may be less
severe than many feared.
Bankruptcies were actually down last
year, in Oregon and across the country,
despite the sudden recession. And just 5%
of bars and restaurants surrendered their
Oregon liquor licenses in 2020. Only 6%
of lottery retailers — typically bars —
shut down.
Meanwhile, the total number of busi-
nesses registered with the Oregon Em-
ployment Department increased in the
six months after the pandemic began
– with an annual growth rate of 3.9%, a
little faster than the growth rate in the 12
months before the pandemic.
What’s going on? Josh Lehner with
the Oregon Office of Economic Analy-
sis notes that small-business income in
the state was roughly flat last year. That’s
largely because of the Paycheck Protec-
tion Program, which funneled $7 billion
in forgivable loans into those small busi-
nesses.
“Absent the PPP, proprietors’ income
fell nearly 20%, which is an apocalyptic
drop,” Lehner wrote in a new analysis.
It’s been an excruciating year for busi-
nesses owners and many are just limping
along, Lehner told lawmakers last month.
It may be some time yet before people feel
safe packing back into restaurants, bars,
bowling alleys and movie theaters.
Still, it appears that a large majority of
Oregon businesses have held up over the
past year and for most, the worst may be
behind them now.
“The fact that entrepreneurship has re-
mained so strong means the total number
of businesses in the economy will con-
tinue to increase,” Lehner wrote. “Replac-
ing the economic role of the lost firms
takes time as does finding a job at a dif-
ferent firm for the laid off workers, but
this process is underway.”
Testimony
split on bills
to raise,
redistribute
pot taxes
BY LARRY MEYER
Argus Observer (Ontario)
Two bills introduced in the
Oregon Legislature related to
marijuana sales tax received
support from some city offi-
cials during a recent hearing
and opposition from mari-
juana industry representatives.
House Bill 2014 would dis-
tribute marijuana taxes by pop-
ulation and location, based on
a municipality’s share of overall
retail sales. Currently distri-
bution is based on population
and the number of licensed
marijuana businesses.
House Bill 2015 would allow
local governments to raise the
local tax on the sale of mari-
juana from the current 3% up
to 10%. The increase would
need to be approved by the
governing body and then go
the voters. The state also has a
17% tax on marijuana.
Ontario Mayor Riley Hill
said his city is the second-larg-
est retailer of marijuana in
Oregon behind Portland, re-
alizing about $1 million a year
in sales. He estimates about
90% of those sales come from
Idaho, but did not provide evi-
dence to support that claim.
The impacts on Ontario in-
clude traffic, infrastructure,
public safety and homelessness,
Hill said.
Ontario resident Cydney
Cooke, who also serves on the
city planning commission,
submitted testimony opposing
both bills. Her letter stated that
she does not support the city
getting any more money. She
wrote that the money that has
been received to date has not
been used “to make any im-
provements to the lives of citi-
zens,” including spending any
of it on addressing issues, such
as the homeless population.
Casey Houlihan, representing
Oregon pot retailers, said legal
retailers in Oregon struggle to
compete with the black market.
Houlihan said raising taxes
would cause an increase in prices
on marijuana making legal
product less competitive. “We
feel that such a steep increase in
the cost of retail cannabis is likely
to displace a very large and sig-
nificant percentage of consum-
ers from the legal market,” Hou-
lihan said in his statement.
The League of Oregon Cit-
ies opposes HB 2014 because it
would take money from some
cities and give it to others. But
the organization supports HB
2015, allowing cities to raise
taxes, said Mark Gharst, a lob-
byist for the league.
In submitted testimony,
Gharst said Measure 110,
which decriminalized drugs
and was passed by voters in
November, will cause a shift
in the allocation of state mari-
juana taxes. The measure takes
marijuana tax revenue and al-
locates it to drug treatment.