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Headlight Herald
Tuesday, July 16 | Vol. 136, Issue 29
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Budget committee discusses deficit solutions WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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The four duplexes that are located on A Street across from the Bay City Performing Arts Center, the other two duplexes are accessed via 4th and 5th Streets.
Bay City duplexes almost ready for residents WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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ix new duplexes slated to serve as workforce housing will begin welcoming residents in Bay City in the next month, with all 12 new units scheduled for completion by early 2025. The development has been overseen by Scott Imholt and Nate Palmer, who said that the duo had aimed to add density to the housing stock, while maintaining the feel of single-family homes to match the neighborhood’s character. “Our vision was to have it feel more like single-family homes than an apartment building be-
cause it seemed more appropriate for this site,” Palmer said. Work towards the development began in 2022, when the team acquired the property on A Street between 4th and 5th streets in Bay City. When they purchased the property, it was zoned for five single-family dwellings, but Imholt and Palmer saw that the site was suited to more dense housing and began to work with staff from the city towards that end. Palmer said that city staff were helpful throughout the process and that securing the needed permissions from the planning commission had been easy. The project also received two
boosts from Tillamook County, in the form of multifamily housing grants. The first grant of $40,000 was awarded in 2023 to help with the project’s development phase and the project received second grant of $100,000 this year to support construction. The grant funds come from a license fee assessed on short-term rental properties and are structured as 10-year forgivable loans. In exchange for receiving the grant funding, Imholt and Palmer have added a deed restriction to the property, guaranteeing that its rents will remain affordable to residents making the area’s median income for the next ten years. That means that rents will
be capped at $1,820 this year and the units will be available to individuals making up to $56,650, or families of four making up to $80,900. Palmer said that he and Imholt planned to hold on to the development long-term and maintain its affordability. Palmer noted that while the gap between market-rate rents and those affordable to people earning the area’s median income were small, they still represented a hurdle to finding housing and that the county grants were allowing them to charge those rents. “That was very helpful in getting all this to work out as a See BAY CITY, Page A10
Tillamook Safeway included on list of stores to be sold WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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illamook’s Safeway location was included on a list of 579 stores across the nation and 62 across Oregon proposed for sale as part of a planned merger between parent company Albertsons Company and Kroger. Stores would be sold to C&S Wholesale Grocers, LLC, a New Hampshire based company that operates an extensive grocery supply operation, as well as grocery stores in the Midwest, South and Northeast. Attempts to merge the two grocery giants began in October 2022, when the companies announced that Kroger planned to acquire Albertsons for $24.6 billion. The announcement drew regulatory scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which requested additional information on the merger in December of that year. This led the companies to develop a list of 413 stores that they would sell to C&S as part of the divestiture process that was submit-
ted to the FTC in September of last year. A list of specific stores slated for sale was not released at that time, but a release indicated that 49 Kroger and Albertsons stores would be affected in Oregon. However, in February the FTC announced that it was suing to block the merger, alleging that it would eliminate competition between the two companies leading to higher grocery prices for consumers.
Kroger responded with a press release, part of a concerted public relations push surrounding the proposed merger, claiming that blocking the merger would lead to higher prices and store closures. The FTC’s opposition led Kroger and Albertsons to reevaluate divestiture plans, leading to the new list. Proposed store sales in Oregon grew from 49 to 62, with Washington state seeing the most proposed sales at 124 and 19 states affected
in total. The proposed sale would see the QFC, Mariano’s, Carrs and Haggen brand names transferred to C&S, and the Safeway name being licensed to the company in Arizona and Colorado, but naming plans for Oregon stores were not immediately announced. A new review by FTC officials will now proceed to determine whether the proposed divestiture plan meets statutory requirements.
Heat wave brings folks to Oregon’s coastal cities JEREMY C. RUARK Country Media Inc.
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strong and persistent heat wave that began July 4 seared towns and cities from British Columbia, Canada to the California-Mexico border. Temperatures soared into the low 100s during the day. The sweltering conditions sent many from inland Oregon to Lincoln City, Manzanita, Newport, Coos Bay and other beach locations to escape the heat. Coastal temperatures were in the upper 70s and low 80s, according to National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Noah Alviz. “The coast gets that marine air, the sea breeze, that keeps the
coast cooler, but unfortunately, the coast range prevents that sea breeze from really getting inland,” he said. “That onshore flow is not strong enough to penetrate past the coast range and so, the interior valleys just stay hot.” The triple digit temperatures were expected to cool by Wednesday, July 10. “We’ll start to see that onshore push, which will bring those temperatures down,” Alviz said. “The temperatures will drop down to the lower to upper 90s, for the interior and lower valleys, and for the rest of the week looks like we’ll stay in the upper 80s and low 90s.” Strong high pressure over the western United States triggered the
IN THIS ISSUE Garibaldi Days A2-3 News A4 Opinion A5-6 Obituaries A7 Classifieds A11-16 Vote for Readers’ Choice A13
Pacific Coast heat wave, according to Alviz. “When you have strong high pressure, usually air will sink,” he said. “When air sinks down, you dry up and you warm up, and this is a pretty persistent high pressure that is over us. It is moving pretty slowly, which is causing this longduration heat wave.” According to the NWS Prediction Center, no rain is expected through July 16. “We are below normal for precipitation,” he said. “Generally, in July we are already pretty dry, so the long-term outlook in July is not looking for significant amounts of precipitation.” Alviz urged everyone to be cautious during the hot
weather. “Check on your friends and neighbors, especially those who may not have air conditioning,” he said. “The elderly and your children are more vulnerable to the heat,” The Oregon Health Authority is encouraging people to take steps to avoid heat-related illnesses such as heat stroke and heat exhaustion. Oregonians can find more information about local cooling centers from 211. Emergency declaration Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek declared a statewide extreme heat
See HEAT WAVE, Page A10
acing a projected $14.5-million deficit in the budget over the next five years, the Tillamook County budget committee held the first of six monthly meetings to discuss possible solutions on July 10. Tillamook County Commissioner Doug Olson shared a list of more than 50 potential revenue-boosting or cost-cutting options to address the shortfalls that are being caused, in part, by cuts to the county’s state forest timber revenues. The meeting started with Olson and the other commissioners welcoming the assembled group to the meeting and thanking them for their participation. Commissioner Mary Faith Bell said that the commissioners knew that addressing the financial difficulties might be a difficult process for county employees and that she wanted to include those who would be affected in the conversations leading up to any changes. Tillamook County Treasurer Shawn Blanchard then discussed the budgetary situation facing the county. For the budget year that began on July 1, the county was forced to cover a gap of more than $3 million in funding by drawing down the revenue stabilization fund and allowing the county’s beginning fund balance to drop. Going forward, those revenue shortfalls are expected to continue, in a projected range between $2 million and $3.6 million over the next five years, according to Blanchard. Neither the revenue stabilization fund nor the beginning fund balance will be able to bridge those gaps, which led Olson to call for the monthly meetings to address the issue before next budget season. After Blanchard’s introduction, Olson launched into discussion of a list containing more than 50 ideas to either increase revenues or cut costs, compiled from suggestions made by commissioners and county staff. On the revenue growth side of the equation, many of the suggestions revolved around increasing or adding taxes, but most of those changes would require voter approval. A prime example of these possibilities is a potential increase of the county’s transient lodging tax (TLT) rate, which is already in the early stages of moving towards the May 2025 ballot for voter approval. Currently, that taxation rate stands at 10%, with commissioners planning to ask voters to approve an increase to 15%, which would bring an additional million dollars into county coffers annually. Another idea mentioned was to lobby the state government to adjust the statutory division of TLT revenues from its current split, which sees 70% of funds earmarked for tourism projects while the remaining 30% is available for any purpose. However, any proposed change to that division is likely to draw opposition from the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association, according to Olson. He said that he had discussed the issue with Tillamook’s state legislators and that Representative Cyrus Javadi had said he was considering sponsoring a bill to study the issue in next year’s legislative session. Other options related to taxing in support of increased revenue included introducing a prepared food tax, establishing a county road service district and supporting tax, seeking a serial levy to support the sheriff’s office or general fund, introducing a gas tax, a vacant home tax or community safety sales tax, See BUDGET, Page A10
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