By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
A decision by the owners of the Waldport KOA campground on the north side of Alsea Bay to annex into the city of Waldport will fuel the city’s tourism programs with an additional $65,000 a year in lodging taxes.
That means the city should have money to open and operate the Alsea Bay Interpretive Center it got from the state last year, do more with its community center, and better help with tourism promotion, say Waldport officials.
And it’s all because KOA owners Ron and Amanda Remund asked Waldport about joining the city so it could funnel its lodging taxes into new tourism programs by the city and Waldport Chamber of Commerce.
The city had approached the Remunds over the years about annexing to the city. Their campground’s shared border of the Alsea River makes the properties contiguous and able to be annexed under Oregon law.
City of Waldport
Until late last year, Ron Remund just wasn’t sure how the city might use the $65,000 a year that their KOA operation collects in lodging taxes. Because their property was in unincorporated Lincoln County, the lodging tax of 10 percent had been going to the county.
But the acquisition of the interpretive center and the ongoing revitalization of the chamber convinced them to annex.
“It became clear it would be beneficial for both of us,” Ron Remund said in an interview with YachatsNews. “I wanted to figure out a way to contribute funds to the city and help the chamber.”
The Waldport City Council unanimously approved the annexation during a special meeting in early January. In return for agreeing to being annexed, the council waived city property taxes for 15 years – an estimated $40,000 over that time period.
“The lodging taxes the first year alone more than makes up for that,” said Waldport City Manager Dann Cutter.
Cutter also made it clear that the KOA annexation does not mean the city has its eyes on annexing the Bayshore area, which has approximately 700 houses and 300 vacant building lots.
“It’s not in Waldport’s interest to expand into the Bayshore area,” he said, because of all the special services it would need, including eventually a very expensive wastewater treatment plant.
No ‘closing in’ on Bayshore community
The Remunds bought the 93-space KOA in 2008, renting out a handful of RV spaces year round but mostly filling up in the summer and early fall. There are open camping spots and lots of older one-room log structures that are slowly giving way to larger, modern buildings.
While building their business, they’ve been involved in the community – first with Waldport schools and various community activities. Now, Amanda Remund is an elected member of the Lincoln County School District board and Ron Remund is the Waldport chamber president.
But they are not the first north of the river to annex to the city.
The Alsi Resort asked to be annexed six years ago when it changed owners, and the Alsea Highlands subdivision joined the city as it was being developed.
In his summary of the annexation proposal to the City Council, Cutter said while there is potential to provide sewer services to Alsea Highlands and other higher-elevation properties to the north, the “city is not interested in the annexation of Bayshore.”
“… this should not be portrayed as an eventual city ‘closing in’ on Bayshore properties,” Cutter wrote. “While we might offer additional annexations on the hill near our existing limits if they ask, it would be the current recommendation to not accept any more properties in the lower lying Bayshore region. That community expressed significant reservations against annexation, and it is important to recognize and respect that decision.”
Focus on tourism promotion
The Oregon Department of Transportation gave the Alsea Bay Interpretive Center to the city in October. The city plans to move exhibits from the Waldport Heritage Museum into the center and operate it as a welcome center, and then offer the city-owned museum building to a community group.
But Waldport did not have enough money to completely clean up the center and operate it. That and the chamber’s year-long revitalization appeared to be the turning point for the Remunds, said City Councilor Susan Woodruff.
The influx of new taxes will help with maintenance of tourist-oriented buildings, especially the new interpretive center, said Woodruff, who had talked with the Remunds over the years about annexing.
“It will mean a lot for the city,” she said. “It’s a considerable room tax and we need lots of help.”
Waldport doesn’t have a lot of businesses funneling lodging taxes into the city budget – just the Alsi Resort, McKinley’s RV Park, the Waldport Inn, and 15-20 vacation rentals. Lodging taxes totaled $97,500 in fiscal 2019-20.
By comparison, the city of Yachats collected 10 times that.
In his upcoming budget proposal, Cutter said he plans suggest using all the new KOA taxes to support the city’s tourism and community center fund.
“In many ways this annexation will make the acquisition of the interpretive center work,” Cutter said.
And that’s what the Remunds want – their money to stay local.
“I think it’s going to have a big impact,” said Ron Remund. “It’s needed, and if we can help, in the long run it will pay off.”