Orcas spotted in Penn Cove
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SATURDAY, February 14, 2015 | Vol. 125, No. 13 | WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75¢
What’s in store for OH Safeway, Albertsons? By RON NEWBERRY Staff reporter
For 21 years, Mike Russo has made it almost a daily habit to stop by the Safeway store in Oak Harbor. He picks up groceries and drinks a Starbucks coffee to earn points as part of the store’s gas rewards program. Next month, his loyalty will be tested when the store he frequents will be taken over by Haggen. He isn’t fretting over the change, though.
“Change is always good,” Russo said. “I got asked by a cashier who knows me well if I will stay and shop here. “I think so.” Oak Harbor’s Safeway is among 146 grocery stores in five states that Haggen is acquiring and converting to its own banner over the next five months. The acquisitions are part of the divestment process required by the Federal Trade Commission after the mega-merger of Safeway and Albertsons, officially approved last month.
Employees at Oak Harbor’s Safeway will stay on at Haggen, which began converting some Washington stores this week, but isn’t expected to get to Oak Harbor until early to mid March. “We’ll still have the same level of customer service, the same level of caring, and the staff that made us the best store in town isn’t going anywhere,” said Assistant Manager Brian Knoblauch.
Working against the tide
SEE STORES, A16
Co. refunding property tax overcharge By JANIS REID Staff reporter
Sublet said that kind of cost will have a big impact on the marina’s budget. The city’s marina is run as an enterprise fund, which means it doesn’t receive tax dollars. Sublet, Almberg and the city’s Development Services Director Steve Powers traveled to Olympia last week when House Bill 1306 was on the agenda before the House Environment Committee. Powers addressed the committee, pointing out that the marina allows access to the water to the public at large, including a free,
Bill Goetz was in Beast Mode Wednesday. Goetz confronted the Island County assessor and treasurer in person after getting what he said felt like the runaround via email regarding a $6,000 property tax charge. “I’m channeling Marshawn Lynch,” Goetz said. “It’s Beast Mode time and I’m not stopping. “This hasn’t been easy for me.” Because of his persistence, the state Department of Revenue is allowing Island County to refund his money in full under a “manifest error,” Island County Assessor Mary Engle said Friday. Criteria for such a refund is very stringent and would only apply to a taxpayer under extraordinary circumstances such as Goetz’s, Engle said. In Goetz’s case, his mortgage company withdrew outstanding taxes from 2009 from his escrow account in December when they noticed a balance. Goetz had no idea where this bill originated because it wasn’t reported when he purchased his home in 2011 or when he later refinanced. “It’s not about the money,” Goetz said Wednesday. “I can afford to take a loss. It’s not my tax.” After researching Goetz’s case and working with Island County Treasurer Wanda Grone, Engle said, it appears a series of errors led to the unexpected tax bill.
SEE MARINA, A16
SEE TAX BILL, A2
Aquatic lands bill seeking ‘fairness’ for city-owned marinas faces ‘uphill battle’ By JESSIE STENSLAND Co-editor
The City of Oak Harbor is taking on a giant state bureaucracy in a fight over marinas and money. State Rep. Dave Hayes, R-Camano, and the City of Des Moines joined the city last week in a showdown in Olympia against the Department of Natural Resources. Hayes is one of the sponsors of a bill that would allow the city to manage state aquatic lands without paying rent. Under the bill, the DNR would treat cities and port districts the same in terms of tideland lease fees, which ports do not pay. It could be a matter of $150,000 a year for the Oak Harbor Marina when a bill that excludes the city from the fee sunsets in four years. “My concern is that junior taxing districts, mainly cities and ports, should be treated equally,” Hayes said in an interview.
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Photo by Jessie Stensland/Whidbey News-Times
State Rep. Dave Hayes is supporting a bill that would change a state law requiring the City of Oak Harbor to pay the state for use of aquatic lands, treating city-owned marinas the same as port-district marinas. “It’s fundamentally a fairness issue for me.” Hayes concedes that changing the law is an “uphill battle” during these tight budget times. Currently, privately owned marinas must pay the DNR tideland lease fees for use of the tidelands. The money goes into the Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account, which funds programs that benefit fish-and-wildlife resources. Port districts that own marinas get a break from the fees. Cities, however, do not. Oak Harbor and Des Moines are the only cities that own full-
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scale marinas in the state, according to Oak Harbor Councilman Rick Almberg. Oak Harbor had paid about $50,000 a year for the lease fees until former state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen pushed through a bill exempting Oak Harbor for 10 years. That was six years ago. Meanwhile, Des Moines has paid about $108,000 a year in tideland lease fees. Chris Sublet, Oak Harbor Marina’s harbormaster, said officials worry that the DNR will charge Oak Harbor about $150,000 a year when the bill expires.
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