County holds off on hotel tax for expo center
by Jennifer Hall, Ahmad Safi
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Buchanan County commissioners will not put a hotel/motel tax increase on the November ballot and delayed their timeline to construct a nearly $30 million agricultural expo center.
In their first public meeting with the city of St. Joseph, county commissioners said Monday they need to cultivate community support and raise private money before construction. For now, they’ve scratched any idea of a tax levy increase by 5 percent on the county’s hotel and motel rooms.
“There will be no tax on the November ballot,” said Eastern District County Commissioner Dan Hausman, one of the county’s main proponents for the Buchanan County Agri-Buisness Expo Center. “We’re not going to ask for a tax unless the community supports it.”
In recent months, both the city and county have talked of increasing the current 3 percent city hotel/motel tax by 5 percent to support competing convention/expo centers on different sides of town.
Earlier this month, hotel and motel officials met with commissioners to say they might support a 3 percent increase — but not 5 percent.
Mr. Hausman said they felt like they were being targeted.
Currently, the highest hotel/motel tax in Missouri is 7.5 percent, he said.
“They felt 8 percent was too high for the market,” Mr. Hausman of the meeting at the St. Joseph Convention & Visitors Bureau. “The CVB said we can’t support any more than 6 percent.”
Whatever the increase, voters in Buchanan County must first approve at the ballot.
The city has discussed a variety of uses for its hotel/motel tax increase, including a downtown convention center/hotel. Councilwoman Donna Jean Boyer’s fears of competing city-county tourism plans were alleviated, although she still believes “downtown is the way to go.”
But Councilman Bill Falkner disagreed, saying “The expo center fits St. Joe better than a center downtown.”
Jennifer Hall can be reached at jennhall@npgco.com. Ahmad Safi can be reached at ahmadsafi@npgco.com.
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i just cannot support both an expo center and a convention center. since the downtown resurgence is finally taking hold in a visible and productive way, why on earth would st joseph want to spread already limited funds over another project? so we can have two half-axxed projects which are just under-funded enough to guarantee that both fail? councilmember boyer gets it.
i wonder if the paper could provide likely dollars spent by each venue, and which would tie in more effectively with existing projects? what level of income and education is drawn typically by these venues? stjo is endeavoring to attract a more sophisticated citizenry in order to better accommodate future industry ( as commented upon frequently by the chamber of commerce). wouldn't it be a good idea to fully fund the concept which would be most likely to not only bring in a tourist , but a well-heeled one?
what makes this city unique? her history. let us not ignore that valuable resource. spend money downtown.
Posted by wildwest on August 20, 2008 at 3:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)I believe both projects have the potential of working here. The Expo idea has a well thought out theme, the convention center idea has the capability of attracting entertainment and events for a increasingly sophisticated population, and the "downtown resurgence" has the marketing draw with its unique history. All the pieces of the puzzle are there, the challenge is to find solutions that can make it all work effectively and pursue a common mission, to bring in visitors to a new and exciting place that is different from the rest and to keep the local population in town with venues on par with other cities.
Whatever the case, all ideas in my view need to be developed in a plan and progression made on implementation. Everyday St Joseph debates and delays on issues that can ultimately benefit the revenue and quality of life is in my view a day that is a lost opportunity.
As I have used the analogy before and I will use it again:
St Joseph with a population base of 73,000 struggles for outside revenue from visitors. Branson with a population base of 6,000, has more visitor revenue than they know what to do with. Compared to what many other places have to offer when it is all said and done, the opportunity for St. Joseph is vast. We should "sieze" the moment, find common ground, and move forward quickly.
As far as the talk of risk taking goes, in my view, the city took risk with the Mall and the North Shoppes, these new project ideas are no different. I would rather see millions in TIFF money go into these projects than I would into a retail mall. Why not bring the mall concept into the downtown, make it sort of like a Zona Rosa with huge differences, the downtown architecture is original and there is more space to many more things. That could be the draw. I think there is just as much risk there as anything.
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