Visit Corvallis Submits Report: As part of its contract with the City, the nonprofit Visit Corvallis submits an annual report to officials, which the Council is set to review, and likely accept tonight, Sept. 5.
This year’s report cites a preliminary study showing that travel revenue amounted to $186 million in Benton County last year, and accounted for 1,980 area jobs. It also says this meant $9.6 million in tax relief for area residents.
According to the 2022-23 report, Visit Corvallis received a $516,000 allocation from the City for the last year, took in another $301,605 in revenues, and allocated $184,000 from reserves. Other revenue included grants and events income. Total expenses were $794,307, which meant $23,298.43 in net operating income.
The Visit Corvallis report ends with a 2023-24 budget that includes a City allocation to the nonprofit of $815,000. Top expenses are anticipated to be $343,918 for personnel, $152,000 for advertising, $87,382 for administration, and $60,000 to develop a plan titled Experience Corvallis.
Not Everyone Agrees About Parking, Outdoor Dining: Regular readers already know Steven Richmond of the Greater Corvallis Restaurant Association has been seeking fellow industry folks to testify at tonight’s City Council meeting in favor of extending the City’s outdoor dining program from spring and summer, to year-round.
The program currently allows restaurants to seek permits to use parking spaces in front of their buildings for outdoor dining, but only for a few months a year.
City staff would rather wait on considering a year-round program, they plan to replace downtown’s current parking meters with digital ones next year, which would in turn offer data, and new insights.
“Staff would not want to move ahead with a year around [outdoor dining permit] plan until we have better data,” said City Manager Mark Shepard. He also said staff would likely seek a year’s worth of data collection from the new meters before recommending a look at changing the current permitting program to year-round.
Shepard says he anticipated the seasonal program would continue next year
Blackledge Furniture Offers Another View: Writing the Council on behalf of his downtown retail business, Eric Blackledge says that with the end of summer coming, the whole outdoor dining program should be reevaluated.
He points to a parking study from last year, writing, “Outside tables on private property and sidewalks over 6’ wide should be permitted, but as the study pointed out, each public parking space in a downtown retail area can produce as much as $54,000 a year in retail sales, and that parking needs to be available for all businesses.”
Blackledge Also Questions Reductions in Free Parking: The same study calls for changing some of downtown’s three-hour free parking spaces to metered spaces, and Blackledge says this could impact retail sales, which would over time lower the value of retail properties and their taxable value to the City. He is advocating for a more detailed study before changing some of those free parking spots, to paid.
County Appraisers May be Visiting Your Property: The Benton County Assessor’s Office is legally obligated to value all properties at 100% Real Market Value as of January 1 of each year. This is different than the assessed, or taxed value, of real property.
Anyhow, this means you may see County staffers visiting your home or business. Their appraisers are easily identifiable, wearing Benton County vests and carrying official identification cards. They will always approach your door first. During the site visit the appraiser will update the dwelling information currently on record, verify measurements of all structures, and take photographs of the property.
The reappraisal initiative covers a wide range of properties, including residential, farm, forest, commercial, industrial, and multi-family properties. But, appraisers will focus on properties where the county records lack sketches and photos.
The appraisals will run through September and October.
County officials say that if you have questions or concerns related to this reappraisal process, you can contact the Benton County Assessor’s Office at {541) 766-6855, or you can visit the Assessor’s website.
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