Two city councils have voted to extend to five years a tax-relief program for the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, leaving the plan three-fourths of the way to becoming a reality.

On Monday night the councils in Bandon and Myrtle Point, two of the three municipalities in the Coquille Valley Enterprise Zone, approved a two-year extension of the program, which lowers the golf venue's state taxes in exchange for its guarantee to hire some workers at wages 50 percent above the Coos County average. Originally set to cut Bandon Dunes' tax bill by $69,750 over three years, the amended plan would create a $116,250 reduction over five years.

The pact requires the higher wages to be tied to jobs yet to be created, not to employees at facilities already built or planned, such as the third golf course resort owners announced in August 2003.

Earlier, the Coos County Board of Commissioners voted 2-1 to extend the tax abatement plan, with Commissioner John Griffith dissenting. The third city in the enterprise zone, Coquille, is slated to cast its vote on Aug. 2, according to City Manager Terence O'Connor. All four governments within the zone must approve the extension to put it into effect.

In Bandon, councilors Lou Franyi, Chris Powell and Brian Vick voted in favor of extending the tax break, with David and Kimes and Geri Procetto opposed; Councilor Blythe Tiffany was absent. Mayor Joe Whitsett did not vote; under the city charter, the mayor votes only to break a council tie.

Myrtle Point Mayor Ed Cook supported the tax-relief extension, along with councilors Denise DeWald, Mike Johnson, Joanne Miller and Bob Thomas. Councilors Maureen Bergman and Joe Bouska voted against the measure.

According to Hank Hickox, general manager of Bandon Dunes, tax breaks in the enterprise zone will allow the resort to more quickly build additions such as a pro shop and maintenance building, both of which are scheduled to open in June 2005.

"It helps to stimulate more rapid development," Hickox said Wednesday. "It sends the message that state and local jurisdictions are assisting to expedite (construction). The pro shop would have been built anyway, but it's helped to expedite the timetable by several months."

The county and all three city councils ratified the resort's inclusion in the zone, though the Bandon council, in February, at first rejected the plan before reversing itself a month later. Opponents called the plan unnecessary to create job growth at Bandon Dunes, which they said would have expanded its facility without tax incentives. (The resort announced it would add a new golf course in August 2003, six months before it first applied to join the enterprise zone.)

Powell, one of the Bandon councilors to vote in the resort's favor, supported extending the tax incentives because of wage levels he said eventually would help the wider local economy, not just resort employees.

"They'll get 45 more jobs in," he said Tuesday, "and any jobs we can get here are wonderful. And Bandon Dunes has to give 150 percent of the average county wage ($40,097 annually over the five-year period) for 19 of those jobs - that's about $760,000 into the economy.

"I feel that it's necessary because the extra two years gives (Bandon Dunes) time to get everything in place," he added. "If they do better before then, it gives them that much more capital down the line to (build) something else" and provide even more jobs in the Coquille Valley.

Procetto, who in March voted against the original three-year tax abatement, held fast to her view the enterprise zone is meant only to entice companies that would not otherwise do business locally.

"When I originally helped approve an enterprise zone in Bandon," she said, "it was because we wanted companies to come in that might not come unless we gave a little incentive. Bandon Dunes has been here since 1999 and whether they get tax breaks or not, they're going to do it."

The county would be better off collecting taxes from the resort instead and propping up hospitals and other public services, Procetto added, saying the golf center's growth - and the resulting job growth - will come in due time without the government's help.

"I think Bandon Dunes is a great organization; I don't fault them," she said. "But my gut feeling is, I don't think they need a tax break. People say we need jobs, but we're taking a lot of taxes away from the county as a whole."