By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
There are more than 28,000 ballots around Lincoln County waiting to be marked and returned.
On Tuesday, voters the Yachats, Seal Rock and North Lincoln fire districts will decide tax levies for operations, Newport voters will decide whether to tax gasoline and prepared food purchases, and all Lincoln County voters will decide whether to phase out vacation rentals in unincorporated parts of the county.
It’s too late to take mail ballots to the post office. To be counted, voters have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to take their ballots to special drop boxes at seven city halls around the county or one in the parking lot of the Lincoln County courthouse.
If people believe they are registered to vote in Lincoln County but have not received a ballot, they should call the elections department – 541-265-4131 – or go in to pick up a provisional ballot before 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Lincoln County mailed 39,657 ballots to voters and as of Sunday had 11,591 returned. That’s a turnout so far of nearly 30 percent.
Lincoln County Clerk Dana Jenkins believes the final turnout Tuesday night will end up between 35 to 40 percent, which was the range for the last two special election in November 2019 and May 2017.
“They’ve been coming in pretty good the last few days,” Jenkins said. “There’s some pretty strong feelings over a couple of the issues.”
While there is just one countywide issue – the hotly debated phase out of short-term rentals – on the ballot, there are five local issues affecting pocketbooks, including:
- The Yachats Rural Fire Protection District is seeking a new five-year property tax levy of $1.59 per $1,000 assessed value to support fire and ambulance services. The district is in financial trouble, borrowing operating funds each spring and summer before paying back the loan when it receives property taxes in November. Its first year, the five-year levy would add $477 a year to the tax bill of property assessed at $300,000. It would then drop to an effective rate of $1 per $1,000 of assessed value – or an additional $300 a year on property assessed at $300,000 — for its second, third, fourth and fifth year.
- The Seal Rock Fire District is asking for a replacement levy of 40 cents per $1,000 to fund services. The district’s request for an 80 cent levy was defeated by 169 votes in May, the same time a new majority of the district board was elected and subsequently terminated the fire chief.
- The North Lincoln Fire District, which covers an area stretching from Lincoln City to Otis, is again asking voters to approve a new five-year levy of $1.22 per assessed value. A May request for the same amount was defeated by 20 votes.
- A city of Newport ballot measure to institute a 5 percent tax on the sale of prepared food and beverages to be used to hire police, fire and library personnel, repair parks and many city buildings; and to institute a 5 cent a gallon city gasoline tax for road repairs. It is being heavily opposed by some Newport restaurants and a statewide restaurant association.
Heat over vacation rentals
The countywide Measure 21-203 made the ballot after a coalition of neighborhood groups upset with the growing number of vacation rentals in residential areas gathered enough petition signatures to put the issue before voters.
Tuesday’s vote was somewhat muddied by county commissioners’ passage last week of a revised ordinance that would more tightly regulate and limit — but the number has not been determined — vacation rentals in unincorporated areas.
The ballot measure would phase out vacation rental licenses in residential areas of unincorporated county – not the seven cities – over five years.
The group, 15neighborhoods, contends vacation rentals have damaged the livability of residential areas in unincorporated areas. It is using contributions of $31,500 and a grassroots campaign of phone calls, a mailer, some newspaper and online advertising, letters and door-to-door work to get out its message.
The measure has drawn a massive response from two organizations formed to fight the proposed phase out, focusing on what they contend its passage would do to the county’s economy.
One group, Via Oregon, is a collection of vacation rental management companies and rental owners. It has received $121,000 in contributions and as of last week spent $57,600 on an advertising campaign. It has received the bulk of its money from Vacasa, Airbnb and two Realtor political action committees.
A second group, Save Lincoln County Jobs, was formed by Lincoln City-based Meredith Lodging, which has contributed $200,000 of the group’s $207,000. As of last week, it had spent $125,000 on advertising, according to the Oregon Elections Division.
Meredith’s campaign has drawn the ire of 15neighborhoods – and a complaint to the state — after it created a “spoof” website that mimicked the ballot measure group’s site. If people went to it, the site urged a “no” vote on the measure.
ViaOregon also got caught up in an election issue when it sent out information in a Facebook message and in its newsletter encouraging rental owners from outside Lincoln County to register to vote in the county. But Oregon law requires someone to be at least a part-time resident of the county – not a temporary resident or just a property owner — before they can legally register to vote.
ViaOregon later corrected its message.
On Friday, Jenkins told YachatsNews that his office had sent questionnaires to 84 people who had registered to vote since September but listed a mailing address outside the county. Sixteen responded clarifying their residence, he said.
As for the remaining 68, Jenkins said “we won’t count their ballots if we don’t hear from them.”
“We wanted to do our due diligence,” he said. “It’s not a lot – unless the outcome turns out to be really close.”
Someone will be standing by at each of the ballot drop boxes at city halls throughout the county at 8 p.m. Tuesday to collect the last of the ballots. The clerk’s office will release the count of the majority of ballots it has received shortly after 8 o’clock, and then a final, unofficial tally about 10:30 p.m.
Elections staff also have two weeks to contact people who didn’t sign their ballot or if there are other issues, Jenkins said. A final, official result is due by 5 p.m. Nov. 16.
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To read more in-depth coverage of about the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District’s levy request, go here
To read more in-depth coverage of Lincoln County Ballot Measure 21-203 go here
Turning 2 in tomorrow with No votes.