Friday, November 26, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3
Voters pass food tax in Cannon Beach
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
CANNON BEACH — A controversial
food tax has passed by only four votes.
Clatsop County certified the Nov. 2 elec-
tion on Monday. The measure’s slim lead
held at 379 votes to 375. The margin, tight
as it is, is not enough to trigger an automatic
recount. However, people have until Dec.
7 to submit a request for a recount with the
state.
The 5% tax applies to prepared food sold
at restaurants and similar businesses. Reve-
nue generated by the tax — an estimated $1.7
million annually — will be split between the
city and the Cannon Beach Rural Fire Pro-
tection District. The city plans to use its por-
tion of the money to help fund a new City
Hall and police station. For the fire district,
the money will go toward operational costs.
Consumers won’t start to see the tax on
their bills until next summer. But for city
staff and elected officials, who had been
waiting for the election to be certified, work
on how to actually implement the tax must
begin soon.
“There’s a lot of work to do between now
and then,” Mayor Sam Steidel said.
The reasons for the tax have been debated
in Cannon Beach since the measure was first
proposed. Now that the tax is moving for-
ward, Steidel said officials need to make sure
the rollout is clear and understandable to the
community.
“This is something new so we want to get
it right,” Steidel said. “We want to do it prop-
erly and openly.”
The tax dominated City Council meet-
ings for months, but it was a big item that
involved other big items, such as a new
City Hall. Though city councilors settled
on rebuilding at the location of the present
City Hall facility, that discussion is still in its
infancy, Steidel said.
Then there is the question of how to bud-
get the food tax. City officials are gearing up
to prepare the next fiscal year’s budget, but
it is still unknown how the tax revenue will
be accounted for in those documents. The
fire district and the city are not sure what to
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Shane Corbin, front, and Sean Corbin, back, the co-owners of Corbins along with Sean’s wife, Crystal, prepare for dinner before doors open.
Many restaurants are critical of a food tax.
expect in revenue returns in the early months
of the tax.
The food tax is meant to target tourist dol-
lars. It was promoted as a way to get visitors
to help cover the costs of needed infrastruc-
ture upgrades in the city and rising calls for
emergency services.
Proponents emphasized the passthrough
nature of the tax and believe businesses
who administer the tax will not suffer as a
result. Visitors, they argue, probably won’t
even notice. Many visitors travel to Can-
non Beach from areas that already have sales
taxes, they said.
But business owners argue that adminis-
tering the tax will bring additional costs and
the tax could be a deterrent to customers.
They worry about the overall impact after
nearly two years of pandemic-related restric-
tions and disruptions.
The City Council had considered pass-
ing the tax as an ordinance. City Councilor
Robin Risley pushed for the matter to go to
voters and ultimately voted with the majority
to put the tax on the November ballot.
“I felt it was a big enough issue that the
citizens should make that decision,” she said.
To her, the close vote justified this
approach: It showed just how important the
issue was to the community, she said.
Leisure and hospitality likely to drive job growth over next decade
By ABBEY McDONALD
The Astorian
Leisure and hospitality is expected to
bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic
and drive job growth in Oregon over the next
decade.
The sector — among the hardest hit by
COVID-19 — is projected to gain nearly
74,000 jobs by 2030, according to the Ore-
gon Employment Department. The growth
is tied to the economic recovery and pent-up
demand for travel and recreation.
Much of the growth will come from restor-
ing jobs that were cut during the pandemic.
The fastest-growing jobs include cooks, bar-
tenders, waiters and fast-food workers.
“I think when it comes to the come-
back, it’s traditionally been the industry that
bounces back the quickest,” said David Reid,
the executive director of the Astoria-Warren-
ton Area Chamber of Commerce.
Leisure and hospitality is often immune to
the motion sickness of rapid rehiring.
Before the pandemic, Clatsop County’s
leisure and hospitality sector would fluctuate
by about 1,000 workers — a quarter of its
workforce — each busy season.
When the pandemic hit, leisure and hos-
pitality lost over 2,600 jobs in the county
in March and April 2020, the Employment
Department found.
Job numbers have been creeping up since
then, and as of September, the sector was
about 10% behind employment in Septem-
ber 2019.
“When the economy comes back, people
start getting money. Then they start going on
vacation,” Reid said. “They have this sort of
pent-up demand for services — we saw that
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Lynn Helmel, a bartender at the Bowline Hotel, prepares a drink.
THE LEISURE AND HOSPITALITY SECTOR — AMONG
THE HARDEST HIT BY COVID-19 — IS PROJECTED
TO GAIN NEARLY 74,000 JOBS BY 2030, ACCORDING
TO THE OREGON EMPLOYMENT DEPARTMENT. THE
GROWTH IS TIED TO THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND
PENT-UP DEMAND FOR TRAVEL AND RECREATION.
in whiplash fashion this last year — where as
soon as we were able to travel we all did in
somewhat different ways.”
At over 16% job growth across all indus-
tries by 2030, Northwest Oregon is projected
to be among the fastest-growing regions in
the state.
Given the rebound from the pandemic
and new businesses in the region, Reid said
“growth is inevitable.”
Tourism, which makes up about a quar-
ter of Clatsop County’s economic base, will
play a significant role in the recovery, said
Kevin Leahy, the executive director of Clat-
sop Economic Development Resources.
“It decimated it, with the pandemic, with
everything that was shut down,” he said. “It
seems like it’s been going on forever, and I
guess that it has. So when you look at when
the pandemic first started most restaurants
closed, for example, and hotels.”
Quick thinking, like investing in takeout
options and altering operations, kept busi-
nesses afloat. Leahy said government relief
money was also a lifesaver. Many of the
businesses that were able to pivot and retain
employees are in better position to snap back.
“We have many restaurants and hotels
here that in the dark times continued to make
payroll for their long-term staff, because they
knew that if they didn’t do that, they’d lose
them,” Leahy said.
Beyond pandemic recovery, new busi-
nesses are expected to contribute to the
decade’s job growth.
The Bowline Hotel, part of Adrift Hospi-
tality, created around 30 jobs when it opened
last summer at a former anchovy processing
plant on the waterfront in Astoria.
Tiffany Turner, Adrift Hospitality’s
co-founder, said she expects local jobs in lei-
sure and hospitality to grow alongside Port-
land and Seattle, though Adrift does not plan
on expanding its workforce at this time.
She said it’s important for the tourism
industry to grow responsibly, with the greater
community in mind.
“So, what type of visitors do we want to
come here, and how do we want to make sure
that they’re treating our communities with
the respect that they deserve?” Turner said.
The balance involves creating businesses
that will serve visitors, she said, while also
keeping money in the community and pro-
viding meaningful jobs for locals.