Festus explores issuing hotel tax
The 1 or 2 percent would fund work on parks, ball fields

Matthew Hathaway of the Post-Dispatch
Copyright 2001 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
Article date: October 11, 2001
 

The Festus City Council has given City Hall the go-ahead to examine ways to tax tourists and roadtrippers staying in Festus' three motels. The council unanimously urged beginning a lengthy process, which, if approved by the Legislature and voters in Festus, could make Festus the first municipality in Jefferson County with a hotel tax.

"We're simply at the exploratory stage right now," said City Administrator Gary Edwards. "We have to check out the numbers and find out if this tax would raise enough money that it would be worthwhile, and we still need to look closely at how we could use the revenues." Missouri statutes generally require proceeds from hotel taxes to encourage tourism, often by paying for advertising campaigns or subsidizing cultural and entertainment developments. Festus is hoping to spruce up the parks and ballfields. It's unclear if the state would approve that use for hotel-tax revenue, Edwards says.

He said that officials also hoped to meet with motel operators to lessen any fears that the tax would be so high that highway travelers might skip Festus in search of less expensive rooms.

"My understanding is that the amount of money raised through the tax would be such a small amount that it wouldn't affect any motel's business,"

Edwards said. "Right now, we're looking at a tax that would only be about 1 or 2 percent, an amount that would hardly be noticed."

Edwards said that for Festus to go through the work of pushing the tax in Jefferson City and putting it on the ballot, it would need to generate at least $30,000 each year.

Festus's three motels are the Baymont Inn and Suites, Drury Inn and Holiday Inn. Although there currently is no hotel tax in Jefferson County, there is a three-percent tax at nearby motels in south St. Louis County.
 

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