I rarely (if at all) get into politics on this blog, as politics and the politicians are just a silly waste of time. That being said, this is something that affects quite a bit of Central Oregon, and really needs to be said.
There is talk of putting a measure on the November ballot to raise the transient room tax in Deschutes County by two percent. Needless to say, lodging industry folks are worried and the Bulletin doesn’t even like the idea (you may need to be a subscriber to get access to those articles).
As many of you know, I do geek and marketing work for a couple vacation rental companies in Sunriver, and obviously anything that potentially is going to turn away tourists directly affects me (even though I’ve been pretty vocal of my loathing of some of our visitors, they do pay my paycheck). But what people around here don’t realize is how much of this area is directly or indirectly affected by tourism dollars coming into this area. Like it or not, we really don’t have another major industry here — tourism is it. So anything that’s going to turn away the tourists affects more than the folks who directly cater to those visitors.
Not only that, but it annoys me that the County has decided to pin their inability to manage their funds onto folks who are visiting the area (who down the road could potentially fall in love with the area, buy a home, and put more money in the County coffers) instead of just fixing the problem.
My boss here — who has been in this industry locally for over 20 years — has written a letter to his homeowners that I’ve edited and he has given me permission to post here. I agree with it 100%. Not because he signs my paycheck, I actually do agree with this. And you really should let your County commissioners and administrators ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) know that you do, too. Read on for the full letter…
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