Cabin owners meet on fee hike

Forest cabin owners will meet today to discuss huge increases in Forest Service fees and to solicit congressional support for rolling them back. Pete and Barb Bailey, cabin owners and representatives from the National Forest Homeowners, will talk about two of the challenges facing cabin owners —— annual fee increases and changes to the 20-year permit. Recent changes to the Cabin User Fee Fairness Act resulted in increases of up to 500 percent in annual fees cabin owners must pay the Forest Service. The new arrangement set permit fees at 5 percent of the raw land value as decided by local market information from 2008 appraisals. These appraisals were determined by comparing lots with "typical lots" in other locations. Nationwide, the fees range from a low of $300 to a high of $76,000 annually. Bailey said the entire process was flawed and didn't take into account the usability of the cabins or the owners' ability to pay. "Some cabin users in Oregon can't get up to their cabin eight months of the year and are being compared to year-around recreational residences," he said. "That's not fair...MailTribune