Voters to decide hotel tax again;
Identical increase was approved in '99 

By Rick Alm, The Kansas City Star
Copyright 2001 Kansas City Star Co.
Article date: July 30, 2001
 

Kansas Citians may experience deja vu as they ponder Question No. 3 on the Aug. 7 ballot.

Residents are being asked, again, to approve a 1 percent increase in the hotel and motel room tax, to 6.5 percent from 5.5 percent, that is tacked onto every visitor's room bill.

Voters gave a solid thumbs-up to an identical measure in 1999, passing it by a nearly 2-1 ratio. But a court threw out the results on a technicality after it was determined the election took place three weeks before the law allowed.

"It would be devastating to our marketing efforts and to upkeep of the convention center if this doesn't pass," said Wayne Chappell, executive director of the Greater Kansas City Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Kansas City's hotel room tax was last increased in 1990, and Chappell said a raise was long overdue to help Kansas City keep pace with competing cities for convention business.

No organized opposition to the tax increase has surfaced.

If the increase is approved, the total tax bite on rooms, including state and local sales taxes, will grow to 13.1 percent, according to Chappell.

Chappell said similar taxes on lodging in St. Louis add up to 14.1 percent. The rate is 17 percent in Houston, 15 percent in Detroit, 14.95 percent in Memphis and 14.90 percent in Chicago.

While the St. Louis room tax is comparable, the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission is operating with a $12.4 million budget this year. That's because St. Louis pools its room tax collections with those from suburban communities to fund one regional tourism agency.

"I wish I had St. Louis' budget to work with," said Chappell, who administers a $6.1 million kitty.

Unlike Kansas City, which has at least a dozen tourism agencies, Chappell said the St. Louis region "thought it was ridiculous to have so many groups."

Locally, the room tax raises about $14.8 million a year. Under state law, those funds are divvied up among three city agencies.

The convention and visitors bureau gets 40 percent, mostly to pay for advertising and other promotional activities aimed at wooing more tourists and conventions to town.

The room tax represents about 80 percent of the organization's annual budget.

The Kansas City Convention and Entertainment Facilities management office gets 50 percent of room tax collections and uses the funds for maintenance and operating expenses at Bartle Hall, Municipal Auditorium, Kemper Arena and other public event buildings.

Director William LaMette said the tax represented well over half his agency's $11.9 million annual budget.

The increase would add around $1 million a year to the bottom line, and LaMette said the money would be spent on his "dire needs" list.

LaMette said that list of long-term projects and improvements totaled around $60 million. It includes upgrades for accessibility for handicapped persons, modernized restrooms and myriad routine repairs, patchwork and paint.

LaMette said about $20 million worth of work on his list had been accomplished. "We've got a long way to go," he said.

City Hall's Neighborhood Tourism Development Fund gets the remaining 10 percent of the room tax, which is used to subsidize festivals and other local events.
 

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