Good to see c Anderson's POV once again. In the meantime, thank you, Rep. Javadi, for this clear assessment of what our towns need. City budgets are stretched just by providing for local residents, so I hope the legislature will approve the TLT flexibility you and others are proposing.
So charging people who stay at Air B&Bs, homes, and Motels outside the city limits at 14% tax supporting the big business within city limits who only pay 1% is a fair deal? Sounds like a LO blow. 😉
No it isn’t. This bill does NOTHING to improve the lives of residents in the county. It is a cronyism that protects hotels, lodges, and motels in the cities while bilking the B&B and motel owners who are outside the city limits. YOU WOULDN’T WANT competition, and CJ is making sure of that. The people who own the lodges in the cities are large corporations. They charge 1% tax to their customers while others outside city limits are paying 10%, and this bill increases it to 14%.
Thank you! Obviously some of your commenters didn't actually read the article or understand the point of the bill. As a coastal resident, I have been saying this for years. It is really hard for our small communities to fund infrastructure improvements. Like Ms Walsh, I have been involved with recycling and solid waste in our community and seen up close the impact of summer tourists. Tourists should help fund things like transfer stations, water and wastewater, and roads. They wouldn't want to come here if we didn't have them. Let us know how we can lobby for this bill.
Thank you so much, Cyrus, for promoting the restructuring of the TLT funds so that coastal towns and communities can use more of the funds to support infrastructure.
It has been a concern of mine for years.
Having been involved in our local recycling and transfer station, I have seen up close what the surge in managing waste looks like during the high tourist season. The volume often exceeds the capacity. And this is just with the waste, not the water, sewer, roads, and emergency services.
It has felt to me that the majority of TLT funds being used for the promotion of tourism has been misguided and lopsided from the get go. And that it has allowed some "pork" projects to impose on the environment that have not been wanted or needed.
So if this tax is so great for the infrastructure? Why not increase the tax on the city Motels, Hotels, and Air B&Bs? Who the heck is making all the garbage anyway?? The people in town are. HB 4148 is just another slush fund because CJ signals that it might be used for infrastructure, but there is NO list of projects that need immediate attention.
"Marketing" means more than advertising; it also means presenting a high quality product for people to buy and buy again. I'm not sure Oregon needs to spend ANY money on advertising; everyone knows the place is gorgeous. What does make sense is to improve the quality of the product: more campgrounds and parks and trails, more visitor centers and rest areas, more view points, better roads, more public safety, public transportation, ... I think most of the "tourist tax" should go to these things. I've sometimes thought it might be good to have a higher gas tax in coastal areas for this reason, but that has it's own problems. Most areas have a chamber of commerce, and that's where local merchants can advertise, organize, and sponsor events. Not sure about why tax money needs to do this.
“As of now, Tillamook County imposes a transient lodging tax (TLT) of 10% on the price of accommodations for reservations of 29 nights or shorter in unincorporated areas.
In contrast, for incorporated areas such as the City of Garibaldi, City of Wheeler, City of Bay City, City of Manzanita, City of Nehalem, Rockaway Beach, and the City of Tillamook, the tax rate is 1% for similar short-term accommodations.” Interesting that you are suggesting an increase from 10% to 14%.” It isn’t difficult to imagine how that increase will impact tourist’s choices for lodging. How exactly that increase will be used was not clearly defined in your post, nor was the time the tax increase would be in place. In this economy, I’m sure that lodge owners want the details of how much money this proposed tax increase will bring in and what it will be specifically used for.
Oh hey Mr Javadi. You always say your for “democracy”. You know what the most democratic thing there is???? The People putting forth a ballot measure Referendum. Yep. Like 250,000 people did for November 2026. Because of course you didn’t listen to The People. And what’s this???? Senate Bill 1599 comes along. How about a point of privilege on that? I would really like to hear that spin. And a Democrat party “committee” to control the wording etc? Did you miss the date we asked for it? Tell me Mr Javadi, why is it that you all think you know more than us mere peons of Oregon? Love the respect Mr Javadi. Yep sure love the “respect” you afford us little People.
So you tax our income. Then you tax our income again. Then you tax our income again. Then you tax our income again. That’s multiple income taxes. Then you tax our after tax income when we buy fuel. You instituted a sales tax against the multiple times The People said no, but you did it anyway. Then you tax our property, if we’re lucky enough to own property. Then if we want to visit our parks etc, that we own as citizens, you tax the use. Then if we want to stay at hotels etc in our state, you tax us massively. Oh yeah tax our utilities. Again with after tax money that’s left over after multiple income taxes. And then you use that money to promote travel even though most citizens of Oregon, like 98.7% already know about Mt Hood and Sunriver and Tillamook and Newport and the taffy at Seaside. But it’s not enough for you? So much for “conservatism”.
Thanks for educating us on the transient room tax. And along those lines, our local parks add fees or raise existing ones to cover their budgets, making it more difficult for local folks to afford to enjoy their own community recreation areas. Maybe using some of those room tax fees to support park maintenance would benefit locals that way also.
Good to see c Anderson's POV once again. In the meantime, thank you, Rep. Javadi, for this clear assessment of what our towns need. City budgets are stretched just by providing for local residents, so I hope the legislature will approve the TLT flexibility you and others are proposing.
So charging people who stay at Air B&Bs, homes, and Motels outside the city limits at 14% tax supporting the big business within city limits who only pay 1% is a fair deal? Sounds like a LO blow. 😉
This Bill is to help local communities pay for infrastructure commonly used by out of area visitors. Makes sense. Let’s make this change!
No it isn’t. This bill does NOTHING to improve the lives of residents in the county. It is a cronyism that protects hotels, lodges, and motels in the cities while bilking the B&B and motel owners who are outside the city limits. YOU WOULDN’T WANT competition, and CJ is making sure of that. The people who own the lodges in the cities are large corporations. They charge 1% tax to their customers while others outside city limits are paying 10%, and this bill increases it to 14%.
Thank you! Obviously some of your commenters didn't actually read the article or understand the point of the bill. As a coastal resident, I have been saying this for years. It is really hard for our small communities to fund infrastructure improvements. Like Ms Walsh, I have been involved with recycling and solid waste in our community and seen up close the impact of summer tourists. Tourists should help fund things like transfer stations, water and wastewater, and roads. They wouldn't want to come here if we didn't have them. Let us know how we can lobby for this bill.
Thank you so much, Cyrus, for promoting the restructuring of the TLT funds so that coastal towns and communities can use more of the funds to support infrastructure.
It has been a concern of mine for years.
Having been involved in our local recycling and transfer station, I have seen up close what the surge in managing waste looks like during the high tourist season. The volume often exceeds the capacity. And this is just with the waste, not the water, sewer, roads, and emergency services.
It has felt to me that the majority of TLT funds being used for the promotion of tourism has been misguided and lopsided from the get go. And that it has allowed some "pork" projects to impose on the environment that have not been wanted or needed.
I will celebrate the the passage of HB 4148.
So if this tax is so great for the infrastructure? Why not increase the tax on the city Motels, Hotels, and Air B&Bs? Who the heck is making all the garbage anyway?? The people in town are. HB 4148 is just another slush fund because CJ signals that it might be used for infrastructure, but there is NO list of projects that need immediate attention.
"Marketing" means more than advertising; it also means presenting a high quality product for people to buy and buy again. I'm not sure Oregon needs to spend ANY money on advertising; everyone knows the place is gorgeous. What does make sense is to improve the quality of the product: more campgrounds and parks and trails, more visitor centers and rest areas, more view points, better roads, more public safety, public transportation, ... I think most of the "tourist tax" should go to these things. I've sometimes thought it might be good to have a higher gas tax in coastal areas for this reason, but that has it's own problems. Most areas have a chamber of commerce, and that's where local merchants can advertise, organize, and sponsor events. Not sure about why tax money needs to do this.
“As of now, Tillamook County imposes a transient lodging tax (TLT) of 10% on the price of accommodations for reservations of 29 nights or shorter in unincorporated areas.
In contrast, for incorporated areas such as the City of Garibaldi, City of Wheeler, City of Bay City, City of Manzanita, City of Nehalem, Rockaway Beach, and the City of Tillamook, the tax rate is 1% for similar short-term accommodations.” Interesting that you are suggesting an increase from 10% to 14%.” It isn’t difficult to imagine how that increase will impact tourist’s choices for lodging. How exactly that increase will be used was not clearly defined in your post, nor was the time the tax increase would be in place. In this economy, I’m sure that lodge owners want the details of how much money this proposed tax increase will bring in and what it will be specifically used for.
Oh hey Mr Javadi. You always say your for “democracy”. You know what the most democratic thing there is???? The People putting forth a ballot measure Referendum. Yep. Like 250,000 people did for November 2026. Because of course you didn’t listen to The People. And what’s this???? Senate Bill 1599 comes along. How about a point of privilege on that? I would really like to hear that spin. And a Democrat party “committee” to control the wording etc? Did you miss the date we asked for it? Tell me Mr Javadi, why is it that you all think you know more than us mere peons of Oregon? Love the respect Mr Javadi. Yep sure love the “respect” you afford us little People.
So you tax our income. Then you tax our income again. Then you tax our income again. Then you tax our income again. That’s multiple income taxes. Then you tax our after tax income when we buy fuel. You instituted a sales tax against the multiple times The People said no, but you did it anyway. Then you tax our property, if we’re lucky enough to own property. Then if we want to visit our parks etc, that we own as citizens, you tax the use. Then if we want to stay at hotels etc in our state, you tax us massively. Oh yeah tax our utilities. Again with after tax money that’s left over after multiple income taxes. And then you use that money to promote travel even though most citizens of Oregon, like 98.7% already know about Mt Hood and Sunriver and Tillamook and Newport and the taffy at Seaside. But it’s not enough for you? So much for “conservatism”.
Thanks for educating us on the transient room tax. And along those lines, our local parks add fees or raise existing ones to cover their budgets, making it more difficult for local folks to afford to enjoy their own community recreation areas. Maybe using some of those room tax fees to support park maintenance would benefit locals that way also.