6A • January 13, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Room tax to include fees
Tax from Page 1A
Herdener said the state
and many Oregon cities col-
lect tax on nonoptional fees.
“It was assumed that we did
and it was pointed out in the
audit that we don’t,” she said.
“We’re trying to rectify that
situation.”
Portland, Lincoln City,
Bend and Eugene are among
cities that apply the room tax
to nonoptional fees, Finance
Director Laurie Sawrey said.
In Cannon Beach, hotel
guests pay an 8 percent city
tax and 1.8 percent state tax
to the hotel. The hotel for-
wards to the city 95 percent
of the tax paid by the custom-
er and keeps 5 percent of the
amount, Sawrey said.
However, Cannon Beach’s
interpretation of room rent is
different from other Clatsop
County cities. Astoria and
Seaside do not collect room
taxes on nonoptional fees.
Astoria lodging operators are
taxed based on the total room
rents they report to the city,
said Sue Dohaniuk, the city’s
financial operations supervi-
sor.
Requirements
create confusion
After a routine audit, Can-
non Beach learned that seven
out of 10 lodging operators
had not paid tax on nonop-
tional fees. Lodging operators
were informed in a September
letter from the city that tax
collection should include such
LYRA FONTAINE/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
The City Council asked staff to prepare a draft amendment of city code clarifying that non-
optional fees should be included in the room tax.
fees. The city also asked hote-
liers for their state lodging tax
returns out of convenience so
they would not need to fill out
an additional form, Herdener
said.
After receiving notice in
September of the city’s inten-
tions, lodging industry mem-
bers from 16 local businesses
— including Hallmark Resort,
Stephanie Inn, Ocean Lodge,
Tolovana Inn and Surfsand
Resort — asked the city in
November to clarify the new
requirements through a public
process.
Sawrey said Tuesday that
the letter was not meant to be
punitive.
“It became clear to me
that we weren’t all on the
same page,” Sawrey said. “I
thought, let’s figure out what
our definition is and let every-
one know so we can all do the
same thing and be consistent.”
Representatives from lo-
cal hotels and vacation rental
companies responded that the
city’s interpretation conflicts
with municipal code.
The city did not want lodg-
ing operators to pay for room
taxes they did not collect from
nonoptional fees. However,
Beck-Sweeney said the letter
from the city was not clear
about when the requirements
would take effect, and her
business paid tax that they did
not collect from guests. The
amount was “substantial for
a small company,” she said.
She has since documented the
overpayment.
After criticism and con-
fusion from lodging opera-
tors, city staff recommended
the clarification. Councilors
LYRA FONTAINE/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
place on county resources, but
it could be significant.”
Internally, a new compen-
sation system is on the county
road map.
“We have been working
for a couple years on revamp-
ing our compensation system
for county employees, so
we’re anticipating that 2017
will be the year that we im-
plement that new structure,
which again, doesn’t affect
the taxpayers or anything,”
he said. “But anytime you
make significant changes to
your compensation structure,
there’s a few challenges that
go along with that.
Externally, there are two
challenges on the horizon.
“One is, in 2017, we will be
doing a review of the county
charter, which is the coun-
ty government. It opens up
county government to po-
tentially discuss either small
or significant changes to the
structure of county govern-
ment,” Moore said. “We don’t
know where that’s going to go
yet, but obviously that’s very
important. It’s something we
only do once every 10 years.
I would say that, probably,
you know, certainly is very
important. How challenging it
will be, we don’t know yet.”
Secondly, the commission-
ers need to make a decision on
the Linn County timber law-
suit. “But regardless of which
decision they make, we are
anticipating that 2017 — may-
be all year, I don’t know —
but this will be the discovery
part of that trial,” Moore said.
“What that means for us is, is
whether we’re in the lawsuit
or whether we’re out of the
lawsuit, we’re probably going
to have to commit significant
county staff time and signifi-
cant resources to responding
to requests for years of data
about timber sales and timber
revenues. And we don’t know
how much demand that will
Seaside Mayor
Jay Barber
“We have a City Council
that works well together and
gets things done. One of the
significant challenges will be
swearing in two new council-
ors in the new year, one newly
elected and one that the coun-
cil will appoint to fill the now
vacant councilor seat from
Ward 1 and getting them on
board and working well with
the other four councilors and
the mayor.
“With the approval of the
bond issue for the Seaside
School District, it will be in-
cumbent upon the Planning
Commission and the council
to address the expansion of
the urban growth boundary in
the new year to bring the new
campus into the city and work
to provide proper access to the
new location.
“Affordable housing in
Clatsop County is a major is-
sue that all cities and the coun-
ty will need to work together
to provide workable solutions.
“This is an issue that will
require input from the county,
cities, local businesses, devel-
opers and concerned citizens.
We can learn from other cities
and regions where workable
solutions are being imple-
mented. This issue is rising to
the top of my concerns.
“Tsunami
preparedness
continues to be a major is-
sue of significant importance.
The highest priority is to seek
funding for the retrofitting of
all of our bridges to assist citi-
zens to be able to move to safe
ground in the case of a major
incident.
“In addition we need to
continue our thinking about
resilience. How will we con-
tinue to be a city in the case
of a major earthquake and tsu-
nami?
“Finally, annexation to the
south of the city to address
blight, vacant and sub-stan-
dard housing as well as the
need to address access to city
water and sewerage.”
Gearhart Mayor
Matt Brown
“As you know Gearhart
has gone through a handful of
contentious issues the last few
years, so I hope 2017 brings a
sense of calmness and cooper-
ation, working together with
our citizens and other cities in
Balzer from Page 1A
to express her criticism of
board members on social
media websites and in her
speech.”
Balzer alleged that the
district and board violated
his free association rights,
in that Balzer’s “intimate
association with his wife” is
entitled to protection under
the First Amendment.
Balzer stated in his com-
plaint that the board’s ac-
tions led to damages to his
reputation and standing in
the community. He sought
compensation of almost
$678,000 and reinstatement
of his duties and benefits.
The three directors
named in the lawsuit pre-
vailed in a special recall
election in April 2016. Af-
ter interim chiefs Jim Stea-
rns and Frank Swedenborg,
Matt Benedict was hired
and has served as the fire
chief since June.
Sheriff’s office
and police
investigating
directed staff to draft a code
amendment for the February
council meeting.
By Erick Bengel
Clatsop County to solve com-
mon problems, such as afford-
able housing.
I’m looking forward to
having work sessions with
our fellow councilors in the
months to come to work on
strategic planning for the next
four years and prioritizing
what is important to our res-
idents. I hope this includes
working on a new fire station
plan, emergency preparedness
and a transportation master
plan.
“Also, looking forward
to working with city staff to
find better ways to commu-
nicate with our citizens in-
cluding building a new city of
Gearhart interactive website,
scheduling town hall meet-
ings and getting folks more
involved in the process and
decision making.
“It’s great to work with our
amazing city staff and depart-
ment heads and I look forward
to a very positive and con-
structive 2017 for Gearhart!”
COASTER THEATRE
45 TH ANNIVERSARY
SEASON
Motion to dismiss
Both parties were able to
get the case resolved following
U.S. District Court depositions
in October.
The motion to dismiss the
case was submitted by Ronald
Downs, representing the fire
district and board of directors.
Charges in the case that the
directors had violated Balzer’s
due process and free associa-
tion rights were not addressed
in the court ruling. The deci-
sion also did not address claims
that the district had muzzled
comments of Balzer’s wife on
Facebook.
Among the terms of the
settlement, Balzer will not be
returning to the fire district as
an employee.
“That ship has sailed,”
Snyder said. “I would say that
Mr. Balzer is pleased with the
resolution. He is pleased that
he engaged in this process
and that it resulted in a satis-
factory outcome for him.”
County hit by flood
of vehicle break-ins
Marty Schwab Harris crit-
icized the “tax hike” on
room rent as lacking public
discussion.
County leaders make plans for future
Leaders from Page 1A
Balzer, fire district
settle lawsuit
For EO Media Group
On Christmas Day, the
Clatsop County Sheriff’s Of-
fice was flooded with calls
related to vehicle breaks-in
that occurred in Svensen
and Knappa. In one case,
a Svensen man lost about
$4,000 worth of custom-made
steelhead fishing rods.
The string of thefts “prob-
ably happened Christmas Eve
night and into the early morn-
ing hours of Christmas,” Sgt.
Jason Hoover, of the Sheriff’s
Office, said.
Then, on New Year’s Eve,
rural Warrenton from roughly
Ridge Road to Sunset Beach
got hit with more than a dozen
similar crimes, including one
involving a victim who had
about $500 in cash stolen.
More than 30 incidents of
unauthorized motor vehicle
entry have been reported since
Christmas Eve — and those
are just the county cases. As-
toria, Warrenton and Seaside
police are also investigating a
series of thefts from vehicles,
according to Hoover.
“Most of the time, when
you have one or two, you
start having kind of a surge of
them,” he said.
In all but a few cases, the
victims left their vehicles
unlocked, and in darkened
driveways, according to a
Sheriff’s Office release. “And
they’re leaving some very
valuable items inside of those
vehicles,” said Hoover, who
is investigating the case with
Deputy Nate Baldwin.
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