6A • August 10, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Board of commissioners backs lodging tax for jails
Tax for county
jail operations
By Edward Stratton
The Daily Astorian
The Clatsop County Board
of Commissioners on Wednes-
day approved a 1 percent
lodging tax to help pay for jail
operations, despite concerted
opposition from the lodging
and tourism industries.
The new tax, which will
take effect in January, will
generate an estimated $1.4
million annually in revenue for
the county and cities. By state
law, 70 percent must be spent
on tourism promotion, while
30 percent — an estimated
$420,000 — can be used for jail
operations. The county already
imposes a 9.5 percent lodging
tax in unincorporated areas, in
addition to state and city taxes.
The new tax will apply within
and outside city limits.
The tax comes in advance of
a $20 million bond measure in
November to move the Clatsop
EDWARD STRATTON/THE DAILY ASTORIAN
Signs of protest against a 1 percent lodging tax approved
Wednesday by the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners.
County Jail from Astoria to the
former North Coast Youth Cor-
rectional Facility in Warrenton.
The vote to impose the tax
was 3-1. Scott Lee, the com-
mission chairman, and Com-
missioners Sarah Nebeker
and Lisa Clement voted yes,
while Commissioner Lianne
Thompson was the lone “no”
vote. Commissioner Kathleen
Sullivan, who works for the
Cannery Pier Hotel, recused
herself.
Sheriff Tom Bergin has ar-
gued that the tax is justified be-
cause an estimated 27 percent
of jail inmates come from out-
side the county. During testimo-
ny Wednesday, he referenced
several high-profile crimes that
have involved hotel guests.
“I’ve taken multiple meth
labs out of hotels in Gearhart,
Seaside, Cannon Beach and
Astoria,” he said.
Bergin argued that the tax is
necessary regardless of wheth-
er the jail bond passes, because
the county has a need to rent
jail beds. He estimated between
$800,000 and $1 million a year
to rent 30 additional jail beds.
The sheriff thinks the lodg-
ing tax is a good option to aug-
ment the budget.
“Minimally, this is not af-
fecting their bottom line,” Ber-
gin said of the lodging industry.
“I’ve talked to some other indi-
viduals who are more on board,
and they’re more concerned
about how that money is going
to be transferred to the cities.
That’s not really my fight.”
Lodging and tourism lead-
ers, filling much of the meeting
room at the Judge Guy Boying-
ton Building on Wednesday,
vociferously disagreed with
Bergin, arguing the tax would
dampen revenue and unfairly
targets a single industry that
doesn’t capture all visitors.
They called on the county to
hold off on the tax until after
the November bond measure
and continue a dialogue with
the lodging industry about al-
ternatives.
David Reid, director of the
Astoria-Warrenton Area Cham-
ber of Commerce, said tourism
is a $500 million industry in
Clatsop County and cautioned
against vilifying guests.
“You cannot simply take
$1.4 million from guests and
expect them to book quite as
many hotel rooms, spend quite
as much money on meals, vis-
it quite as many attractions
and have as much money left
to spend at retailers,” he said.
“Their money can only stretch
so far.”
Jason Brandt, CEO of the
Oregon Restaurant & Lodging
Association, said lodging taxes
suppress the ability to attract
tourists. He called it irrespon-
sible for the county to pass a
lodging tax meant to support
tourism without any industry
support.
The lodging association
sued Bend over the city’s use
of tourism tax money for road
repairs. A judge sided with the
association, but the city has ap-
pealed the decision.
Loretta Maxwell, owner of
the Grandview Bed & Break-
fast, questioned how many of
the out-of-town jail inmates
referenced by Bergin stay in
rented rooms, calling for an
analysis.
“I think that you’re flogging
a dead horse,” Maxwell said of
taxes on the lodging industry.
“Our percentages are getting
close to the big cities like Los
Angeles and New York, and
we’re not them.”
The argument of waiting un-
til after the November vote on
the jail bond was compelling to
Thompson, who said the coun-
ty should continue the conver-
sation about alternatives and
look at taxing other segments
of the tourism industry, such as
food and beverages, in order to
capture the impact of visitors
not renting rooms.
County Manager Cameron
Moore said the commission
could reconsider after the vote
because the tax will not take ef-
fect until January.
“It gives you the option to
rethink this if the jail bond is
unsuccessful,” he said.
Councilors say county tax
on lodging is ill-advised
Tax from Page 1A
Developers step back from a proposed RV park near Arcadia Beach.
Arch Cape landowner decides
to drop Arcadia Beach RV plan
RV Park from Page 1A
Now, Smejkal is looking
to sell.
“Mechanically, it just
didn’t fit,” Waggoner said.
“We would have had to build
1,000 feet of roadway for 15
or 20 units.”
Smejkal has faced road-
blocks to development since
he acquired the land in 2002
through a trade with the Or-
egon Parks and Recreation
Department. In 2009, Smejkal
tried to develop the property as
housing, which was ultimately
denied by the Clatsop County
Planning Commission.
The RV park also encoun-
tered vocal local pushback.
Arch Cape residents and envi-
ronmental groups raised con-
cerns in September at a public
hearing about adding traffic to
an already populated stretch
of Highway 101, threats to
water quality with sewer in-
frastructure butting up against
nearby streams and the prop-
‘IT GOT TO BE A
VERY ELABORATE
PROCESS FOR A
SMALL PARCEL
OF LAND.’
Leonard Waggoner,
Smejkal’s development
consultant
erty’s proximity to threatened
marbled murrelet habitat.
Although county planners
were concerned with the crit-
icism, Waggoner said, com-
munity concerns did not sway
Smejkal’s decision to sell.
“There were a lot of things
not desirable with this land
from a development stand-
point,” Waggoner said. “It got
to be a very elaborate process
for a small parcel of land.”
Now that the property is
off the table for development,
the North Coast Land Conser-
vancy has shown interest in
bringing what was once state
parkland back into conserva-
tion.
Katie Voelke, the land con-
servancy’s executive director,
said in an email that the prop-
erty has conservation value,
including the connection to
the state park and beach and a
forest with legacy spruce and
cedar that provides nesting
habitat for the marbled mur-
relet.
While Waggoner said he
has had conversations with the
land conservancy, no offer has
been made and a price has yet
to be set.
The price will be deter-
mined by an Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation for-
ester who will survey the land
for timber value. Waggoner
said that if Smejkal can’t find
a buyer, they will start the pro-
cess to rezone the land to al-
low harvesting the timber.
“If an environmental group
wants it, we see that as the
best use,” Waggoner said.
mostly impact visitors from
outside the county, who
Sheriff Tom Bergin claims
make up 27 percent of the
inmate population.
City Councilor George
Vetter said adding a county
tax is another “bureaucratic
burden” to hotels and rental
companies, which already
have to report separate taxes
on the city and state level.
Others, like City Coun-
cilor Mike Benefield, took
issue with the county hand-
ing the city restricted tourism
promotion dollars it may not
necessarily want.
By state law, only 30 per-
cent of the new tax — about
$420,000 of the $1.4 million
estimated to be brought in
annually — can be used for
jail operations. The other
70 percent must be used for
tourism promotion.
The tourism promotion
portion of the revenue col-
lected from businesses with-
in city limits will be returned
to cities to use how they see
fit, Steele said. The new tax
will raise the Cannon Beach
lodging tax from 8 to 9 per-
cent and is estimated to raise
$380,000 in revenue a quar-
ter for the city.
“I don’t want more pro-
motion. I don’t want more
advertising. You can take
back (to the county commis-
sion) at least one councilor is
not at all happy about this,”
Benefield told Steele.
If the tax has to stay,
Benefield suggested the
county work with the state
to broaden the definition of
a tourism-related facility in
state law so the money could
support a variety of city
functions.
“Have the county sup-
port that notion … then I
wouldn’t be quite as opposed
to you throwing money at us
and telling us how to spend
it,” he said.
Councilors did discuss
a possible appeal of the
county’s decision, but was
advised against it by City
Attorney Ashley Driscoll,
who said appealing a tax the
county has the right to im-
plement would be “an uphill
legal battle.”
Instead, the City Council
agreed to send a letter to the
county outlining concerns
with the tax hike, including a
request to repeal it regardless
of whether the bond passes.
“We’re not appreciative
of the way the (county) went
about this,” Steidel said.
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