City raises hotel/motel tax one percent

Latasha Everson/The Tifton Gazette CNHI

TIFTON — Several concerned hotel/motel owners of the Tift Area Hospitality Association (TAHA) and members of the Tifton-Tift County Tourism Association attended the Tifton City Council regular meeting Monday evening in response to the council potentially voting for an increase to the excise tax on rooms, lodgings and accommodations.

After much discussion, the council eventually agreed to an one percent increase in the tax.

The matter began at a November workshop/called meeting, the council discussed the hotel/motel tax in full details. The Gazette reported in a recent article that according to City Attorney Rob Wilmot, the hotel/motel money has to be spent by the Tourism Board within the fiscal year (contract period — July 1 through June 30, 2013). Any unexpended money is reported to the city. Wilmot had noted that the city is liable for how the money is spent by the Tourism Board; funds must be spent appropriately according to the law.

Currently, there’s a five percent hotel/motel tax (two percent goes to the Tourism Association and three percent goes to the city) and a seven percent sales tax — 12 percent tax total. The maximum the council can raise the hotel/motel tax is three percent.

During a public hearing that was held before the meeting, Wilmot briefly went over the hotel/motel tax increase. He explained to the crowd that the council wants to raise the current five percent tax to eight percent, which will go towards enhancing tourism.

No one spoke in favor of the tax increase; however, several citizens did speak against it. Harold Harper, who owns the local Howard Johnson (used to be Motel 6), spoke first.

He told the council that he recently changed his flag and wants to get started back up again. However, he stated that a hotel/motel tax increase is “going to hurt us.”

He explained to the council that the local hotels and motels have helped raised a large amount in taxes, and tourism here has grown. He said this shows that they’re doing good and the current tax of five percent should remain.

Harper added that local hotel/motel owners can stand with an one percent increase to the tax but any higher than that will hurt their businesses. He said tourists who come to this area will notice the price and will go to the next town with a lower tax to stay in their hotels and motels.

Harper told the council that he understands that the city needs the money but to hit one small group for it isn’t right.

Hayward Fowler of the local Fun Channel, commended the hotel/motel owners on a job well done. He mentioned that this industry is “one of our largest industries.”

He looked at the council and stated, “We’re in a competitive world here, and we need to be careful...these folks need help.”

Greg Turton, who owns Hampton Inn, commented that Tifton calls itself a friendly city. He asked the council, “But, are we?”

He stated that tourism money shouldn’t be used for the Henry Tift Myers Airport, which, in his opinion, doesn’t help tourism. Also, he said it’s not right that they use the money for the Myon Hotel.

Turton stated that when he got on the Tourism Board, it was his understanding that the money would be spent to help get “heads on beds.”

He noted that Valdosta’s sales tax is already less than here.

“We love Tifton. It’s a great community,” Turton said. “I want you to have nice offices, but it shouldn’t come from tourism.”

He added that it’s not right for the money to come from tourism because it’s the easy way out.

Manju Kundra, owner of Microtel Inn and Suites, said she owns a 10-year hotel. She told the council that their expenses have gone up.

“My cost has not gone down; it has drastically gone up,” she stated.

She said $150,000 has already been spent on fixing up the hotel to make it look brand new.

“We put in so much hard work,” Kundra stated, adding that she doesn’t have enough blood in her skin left. “So, please help us.”

Rick Williams, who owns four local hotels, said he’s concerned about the tax increase.

“The economy has been really bad for the tourism industry for the past four years,” he stated. “We feel that with this increase, we’re going to end up taking out some of these motels. This could set back the lodging business in Tifton. Why do we need to penalize our customers...and us? It would decrease jobs. It would be devastating.”

He added, “Just because you have the right to do it, it doesn’t make sense.”

Williams said many of them would go along with the one percent tax increase.

Lastly, Dr. Joe Turner asked the council if they did a cost analysis on increasing the tax to eight percent. He noted that lowering the tax would have a better impact. Kundra added that by not increasing the tax to eight percent, revenue would increase.

After the meeting was called to order, the council unanimously voted to increase the current five percent tax on rooms, lodgings and other accommodations by only one percent — 50 percent of that penny will go to tourism and the other 50 percent will go to the city for tourism product and development.

Councilwoman Julie Smith stated to the crowd, “I don’t think anyone up here doesn’t appreciate you.”

She, Mayor Jamie Cater and other council members agreed that they want to work together with tourism members to continue to expand and go to the next level with tourism.

The crowd appeared pleased with the council’s decision to increase the tax by only one percent.

Also, during the meeting, the council discussed various solid waste collection sites. City Manager Larry Riner said they have had several discussions concerning these sites, particularly the South Central site. He noted that some people are concerned with it closing, which would have a negative impact on the cleanliness of the community.

The biggest issue is “county residents are using it, but city residents are paying for it,” Councilwoman Marianna Keesee stated. City residents have the curbside option.

Council members agreed that this isn’t right and that something needs to be done. They decided to revisit this matter within 90 days to discuss more.

Vice Mayor Johnny Terrell and Smith said the city needs to sit down with the county to find a way to resolve this problem and help the county.

“We want a clean community, not just a clean city or a clean county,” Councilman Chris Parrott said.

In other business:

• Keith Hickman spoke to the council during citizen input about having a small food cart, containing hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and drinks. He mentioned to the council that he had the cart in the parking lot if they wanted to see it. He assured members that if they vote to allow food carts in the city, he doesn’t believe it will be a threat to any local business. He’s currently looking at taking his cart out in the Industrial Park area. Hickman noted that this is something he wants to do on the side, possibly once or twice a week, and at festivals. The council decided to have Hickman come back during their workshop on Jan. 17 to discuss more.

• The council approved to appoint Fowler to the Keep Tift Beautiful Board and Cyndy Hall to the Historic Preservation Commission Board.

• The council approved the resolutions providing for an alcoholic beverage license to Neighborhood Restaurant Partners Florida Two, LLC, also known as Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar, Saigon Kitchen, Anchor Lounge, Willis Country Meat and Big Jim’s. Also, the ordinance amending chapter seven of the City of Tifton Land Development Code to provide for the regulation of outdoor advertising signs along the I-75 corridor was approved.

To contact reporter Latasha Everson, call 382-4321.

Homepage

Search Results

City raises hotel/motel tax one percent

Site Map

Contact Us