Letters to the Editor 10/23/2013

To the Editor:

Until I read this week's Nugget article on the Cyrus development fiasco, I hadn't paid a lot of attention to it, but now I am disturbed! It is like a small-town version of the Washington mess - some local politicos (and so-called "facilitators") are determined to have their way regardless of what the public wants.

I look at the TDOs as a blank check for politicians - if they don't need it here, move it there! It is like passing a law in New York State but letting Los Angeles use it.

Then as to Rep. Huffman of The Dalles saying it is "priority" for him to get the TDO moved to Deschutes County - he has as much interest in our area (with the possibility of a fat check in his re-election fund!) as I have in a balloon test in Berlin! "Facilitator" Jeff Goebel's little card games to confuse the issue makes me realize what they want - regardless of the expressed public will.

What does all this mean to you and me? I recall somewhere in the dim, dark past a law being passed here to limit tax increases. I don't get any more services from Deschutes County than I did in 1989, but my taxes, in spite of the law, are over three times what they were in 1989. Who will ultimately pay for Mr. Cyrus' TDO?

Russell B. Williams

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To the Editor:

Deschutes County voters have been given a golden opportunity to protect and enhance the investment the taxpayers have made in building the Fair & Expo Center. I am asking you to vote YES on the one percent increase in the county room tax (Measure 9-96) on the November 5 ballot. Visitors to Deschutes County will pay this increase, and not county residents.

Your county commissioners voted unanimously (3-0) to put this on the ballot. COVA (Central Oregon Visitors Association) is supporting this increase. These supporters and others clearly realize how important and vital the Fair & Expo is to our economy. In just 2012 alone, the Fair & Expo had a $29.3 million economic impact on our economy. Since 2002, when we began tracking the economic impact from events at the Fair & Expo, that total comes to $378.2 million; that doesn't include the first three years the facility was open and it doesn't include the impact of 14 annual fairs. It is more than a conservative estimate to say that the economic impact over those years is well over $400 million.

State law requires that 70 percent of any room-tax increase must go to tourism or a tourism-related facility. This measure dedicates 70 percent of the total directly to the Fair & Expo Center for the purpose of marketing. The state law also earmarks the remaining 30 percent to the taxing entity, in this case, the county, who can use it in the best way they see fit. The estimated funds from this increase that will go to the Fair & Expo will be somewhere around $350,000. Our plans for the new marketing effort these funds will allow us to implement include:

• Growing state, regional, national, and international markets which will bring more visitors who will stay overnight, boosting the economy and increasing room-tax collections.

• Updated marketing materials.

• Expand our marketing photo and video library.

• More advertising and new signage for the Fair & Expo RV Park.

• A new website and interactive marketing, video, social media, and increased public relations.

• Expand the reach of our current marketing efforts.

• More community partnerships.

• More sponsorships.

• Secure more convention and meeting business.

• Secure more national RV and motorcycle rallies.

This increase applies only to the hotels and resorts in the unincorporated areas of the county and does not apply to lodging facilities within the cities (Bend, Redmond, Sisters, and La Pine).

Mike Schiel

County Fair Board Member (since '08)

Deschutes County Fair Association Director (since '91)