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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (May 22, 2015)
May 22, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 13A Big ticket budget items Kucera makes case for capital improvements absorb the loss and still have a robust amount remaining, he told the budget committee. If the City Council passes “We absolutely need to &DQQRQ %HDFK¶V ¿VFDO \HDU maintain healthy fund balanc- 2015-16 budget in its current es. That’s key. That’s critical,” form, the city can look for- he said. “But you also need to ward to a handful of capital reinvest those fund balances improvement projects tak- into the community.” ing shape around town fairly soon — from street and side- Highlights General fund: walk renovations to emergen- • The ongoing renovation cy preparedness measures. Consequently, City Man- of City Hall: $50,000; • Repairing and rehabil- ager Brant Kucera said he an- ticipates more expenses than itating the surfaces of the revenues in the upcoming city’s downtown tennis and ¿VFDO \HDU¶V EXGJHW ZKLFK basketball courts: $40,000; • Constructing a new plaza may rise about 8.5 percent RYHU WKH FXUUHQW ¿VFDO \HDU¶V at the west end of Second Street budget, from $13,508,389 to with benches, low lighting and $14,659,865. a rebuilt sidewalk: $35,000; However, the city’s fund • Hooking up water, pow- balances are large enough to er and wastewater services to By Erick Bengel Cannon Beach Gazette ‘We absolutely need to maintain healthy fund balances. That’s key. That’s critical. But you also need to reinvest those fund balances into the community.’ City Manager Brant Kucera the cache container sites and assembly sites, plus installing antennas at both the north- end and south-end emer- gency cache container sites: $33,000. RV Park enterprise fund: 7KH ¿UVW SKDVH RI DQ expected three-phase project involving a complete replace- ment of the RV Park’s elec- trical system, a water system replacement and a sewer sys- tem upgrade. The project also includes the installation of 50 amp service pedestals at each RV pad, new water service pedestals and re-paving roads and pads after removing in- trusive tree roots: Phase No. 1: $220,000; Full project: $4,450,000. Water enterprise fund: • The replacement of two ¿OWHU EHGV DW WKH ZDWHU WUHDW ment plant: $85,000. Roads fund: • Reconstructing the Spruce Street blocks between First and Third streets to make them ADA-accessible: $75,000; Water, sewer and roads funds: • Repair of the public works garage: $30,000. Strain Though many people tend to focus on the general fund, Kucera stressed that enter- prise funds — basically, water and sewer — are “just as crit- ical to running the city as the police and administration.” At some point, the city should consider addition- al increases to those funds, though not for the upcoming ¿VFDO\HDU,QWKHQHDUIXWXUH however, “we need to invest in those utilities,” he said. Cannon Beach has about 1,700 residents, but, “if you look at the number of visitors that we get here, we func- tion like a city of essentially 10,000 people a year,” he said. The amount of water pumped, sewage treated, etc., for Cannon Beach’s tourist population puts a strain on the city’s infrastructure, he said. A tourist community’s population can be a rather deceiving number because it is “not necessarily a true re- ÀHFWLRQ RI ZKDW JRYHUQPHQW actually needs to do for the residents,” he said. Benefi eld: Extra tax revenue to chamber would be money well spent “We are growing, but you lodging taxes, the tax increase lieves that giving the extra and that many people will “would have a very positive tax revenue to the chamber consider it an investment in can’t just sit back and rest on your laurels,” he said. a shame that we have to pay ¿VFDOLPSDFW´.XFHUDDUJXHG would be money well spent, the town’s future. peanuts based on the funding 0D\ 7KH EHQH¿W WR WKH level that we’ve received/” chamber would “come back Right now, the informa- to (the city) in visitors and tion center has the equivalent tourism.” of one fulltime employee. By He reminded the com- contrast, Seaside and Asto- mittee that, whether the tax ria’s visitor cen- increase is 1 ters staff more percent, half than three full- ‘We are growing, but you can’t just a percent or time equivalents, zero percent, sit back and rest on your laurels.’ Carrier added. the amount Meanwhile, Can- won’t affect City Councilor Mike Benefi eld non Beach’s in- the city’s op- Check out our formation center erations, only Assortment of Patriotic receives about the chamber let Mall & Seaside Out h ac Be Candies & Decor n no an three times as many walk- start of the second quarter — and information center. Downtown C in visitors and must rely on hence, the new Oct. 1 launch The budget, he said, is Freshest Homemade in USA : chamber personnel. VXSSRVHG WR UHÀHFW WKH DVSL date. g n ti ra b le e C Saltwater Taffy, Chocolates “It’s overwhelming. To- Ken Quarles, manager of rations of the City Council, ER 50 Years V O Caramel Corn, Caramel Apples tally overwhelming,” Carri- the Sea Breeze Court, object- including how and whether to weet of Making S & MORE!! er said. “We’re here to bring ed that his and other relatively help grow the Cannon Beach Memories more business to Cannon inexpensive hotels in town economy, he said. Wedding Treats & Gift Baskets! Beach, and without addition- SUREDEO\ ZRQ¶W VHH D EHQH¿W “I believe a real need DO VWDI¿QJ ZH DUHQ¶W DEOH WR from the tax increase or the was brought to me by the We can ship Candy do that outreach. We literally chamber’s expanded promo- organization that is called directly to you! don’t have the staff bandwidth tional efforts. “We know how the chamber ... We entrust to be able to do it right now.” WR¿OORXUURRPV´KHVDLG them to act as our econom- The tax revenue, he said, He added that the tax sim- ic development arm of the would provide for the cham- ply takes more money from city,” Kucera said. “Empir- ber — and, by extension, the lodgers already paying a high ical evidence was presented information center — a stable room rate typical of tourist to me that it’s underfunded stream of income on top of destination-type cities. for what they’re trying to ac- the Tourism and Arts grant Carrier responded that complish.” www.brucescandy.com • 503-436-2641 • 503-738-7828 awarded to the chamber in most people who can afford %HQH¿HOG VDLG KH EH varying amounts each year. to stay overnight in Cannon He added that Cannon Beach don’t complain about Beach — though the city cur- the transient lodging tax, rently ranks at number 10 in which would increase from 6 the state for bringing in lodg- to 7 percent, not including the ing tax revenue — gives a state’s 1 percent lodging tax. far smaller percentage of that 3DWULFN 1R¿HOG SUHVLGHQW revenue to its chamber, about of Escape Lodging, told the 7 percent, than do other Ore- budget committee he would gon cities; the statewide aver- support a 1-percent tax in- age is about 40 percent. crease, with 100 percent of it going to the information cen- Lodging industry ter, but would like the cham- ber to provide a means of response measuring its success, of indi- Before the May 13 budget cating whether it is spending meeting, more than a dozen of the tax wisely. Cannon Beach’s hoteliers and Carrier said that promotion other representatives of the builds on itself and that it may city’s hospitality industry — take a few years to show a the industry most affected by marked increase in tourist ac- the proposed tax hike — met tivity that can be traced back with Carrier and Kucera at to the tax increase. Haystack Gardens to discuss “Three years is what we’re the matter. asking for in terms of stability Most of the lodging leaders of funding, and if we’re not who spoke said they approved doing the job, throw us out,” of a 1-percent increase, though he said. QRWZLWKRXWTXDOL¿FDWLRQV Linda Beck-Sweeney, City aspirations Because more than 50 per- owner and president of Can- non Beach Vacation Rent- cent of the city’s general fund als, said that her rooms are revenue comes from transient Tax from Page 1A booked up through the sum- mer and that it would be un- fair to make guests pay more taxes after they’ve already reserved the room. For this reason, Kucera told the budget committee that it would be prudent to im- plement the tax increase at the y! a D l a i r o em M y p p a H S ION TWO LOCAT COMING IN MAY OUR 8TH ANNUAL Reserve Your Advertising Space Today! coastal Deadline: May 29th Menu Guide 2015 Copies distributed throughout the year to north coast hotels, motels, chambers of commerce, visitors bureaus, campgrounds, restaurants and stores and inserted in The Daily Astorian & Chinook Observer Co n ta ct yo ur a d ver t isin g sa les co n sulta n t fo r m o re in fo rm a tio n : W ASH IN GTO N : 800-643-3703 O RE GO N : 503-325-3211