Commissioners put business license proposal on ‘pause’

Tillamook County Commissioners announced on Jan. 26 that, after consideration, they are putting a planned workgroup on a proposed business license program for unincorporated Tillamook County on pause.

The now paused proposal was discussed at a Nov. 30 county commissioner public hearing, a hearing in which almost all public comment voiced opposition to the proposed tax, which was to have provided funding for the Tillamook County Economic Development Council.

In a Jan. 26 release to the media, Commissioners had this to say about the business community’s comments on Nov. 30:

“The meeting room was packed with people from the business community who had concerns about the ordinance as it was written. We heard their concerns, several of which were thoughtful and helpful, and we cancelled the second public hearing on the ordinance. That tabled the issue, as an ordinance cannot be approved without two public hearings.”

Central to the path forward of the business tax concept was a proposal, at the close of the Nov. 30 hearing, by Tillamook County Commissioner Mary Faith Bell, who suggested that a workgroup take a fresh look at the concerns voiced by businesses.

As previously reported in the Sun, those concerns included fears of additional government inspections, a lack of perceived benefits to the business community, the lack of equitable enforcement and the financial roadblock an additional tax would erect.

Fast forward to today. In the Jan. 26 announcement, Commissioners described the original business tax proposal as “off the table.”

Commissioners added the following in the Jan. 26 media release: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TriComunidad_Espanol