To the editor:
It seems “facts” about short-term rental owners need clarification.
Owners say their short-term rentals contribute large amounts of dollars to Lincoln County economy. Tourist dollars from short-term rentals in unincorporated Lincoln County may be realized by some grocery and outlet stores, but most vacationers arrive with coolers, boxes and bags of food with many children. They eat at the house, walk neighborhoods, access beaches and do not go to bars, restaurants, and tourist shops.
Short-term rental owners say they contribute $11.7 million in taxes, however the county’s 2020 budget has $1.225 million from room tax. Total taxes expected from all county homes is $24 million. It is impossible that 566 rental houses contribute half of entire county’s tax revenue.
Owners also claim that short-term rentals contribute to county employment totaling $192 million annually for 3,600 employed. (3600 for 566 houses?) That would give a median annual wage of $53,000 to each employee! Housekeepers average $15 per hour or $30,000 per year and report having no benefits.
Consider this fact. Short-term rental owners don’t live here. Reportedly 94 percent of short-term rental owners live out of the area and out of state. The result is that profits go out of county.
Local voluntarism, charity dollars and contributions don’t come from short-term rental owners or their renters. Instead local residents support such things. Additionally, short-term rentals lower local Census numbers, which lessens state and federal dollars coming to county.
Short-term rental owners say they support local maintenance, repair, commercial industries. Those houses would require the same attention, but are not tax deductible.
Short-term rental owners claim they and their renters comply with regulations. Owners are not present to witness nor manage renters behaviors like noise, garbage, illegal fireworks, illegal parking, trespassing, peeping into windows, speeding cars on single lane unincorporated residential areas, stolen firewood, dog poop and more.
County enforcement is through the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office with enforcement left to residential homeowners to call in complaints. Sheriff department citations are limited to criminal/civil laws needing to be witnessed with no mechanism for “writing” a ticket if identified. Owners say there are no reported problems, however county reporting and enforcement is not sufficient for the 566 homes from Yachts to Lincoln City.
Where could vacationers go? They’d go to hotels, motels, resorts, or tourist housing zones with appropriate emergency preparedness and onsite management.
Want a voice in this matter? Go to www15neighborhoods.com.
— Ardys Schimmel, Gleneden Beach
We used to have a vacation rental at the end of our road. Thankfully the owners moved in and it is no longer a rental. There were several complaints I made to the rental management company regarding speeding from tenants and staff along our narrow unpaved driveway. Some people left chained dogs unattended outside and barking into the night for hours, and many left all the exterior lights on all night, as evidently they were scared of the dark. Vacation rentals do not belong in residential neighborhoods.