To the editor:
No, Lincoln County’s economy is not mainly supported by tourism as claimed by the short-term rental organization, Via Oregon. Thank goodness.
Traditionally, the dominant economic centers are commercial fisheries, agriculture, and timber. Overlooked by the hospitality industry is the retiree income or “transfer income effect.”
According to the most recent Lincoln County Economic Analysis done in 2014, retiree income effects “have become a major source of income for most coastal areas.” In addition, the in-migration of retirees has “helped increase investment income and transfer payments in Oregon coastal counties.”
Unlike investment income generated by the vacation rental industry, the investment income generated by retirees (and motels and hotels) remains in Lincoln County.
Significantly for the younger generation of coastal residents, the retirement income effect increases the county’s total personal income because the purchasing power of retirees “stimulates employment and incomes by increasing local spending. It may be that these year-round residents foster economic and employment stability.”
The report concludes that transfer personal income from retirees is one of the “principal drivers for the county’s personal income increases … accounting for 62% of the county’s total personal income increases.”
Lincoln County’s strength was our diverse economy. But “northern county (Lincoln City) is more reliant upon the tourism sector. In general, the tourism sector pays lower salaries than many other sectors of the economy.”
For those who complain that this economic analysis is seven years old, I do, too.
I understand that for about $35,000 the contractor who did the 2014 report could write another. Before Lincoln County commissioners embark on another boondoggle like issuing business licenses to short-term rentals in unincorporated county’s residential areas, the commissioners need to fund another 10-year (or sooner) update on Lincoln County’s economy.
— Robin Hochtritt, unincorporated Lincoln County (Miroco)
