Agenda - 06-01-1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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bmrnissioners � give support to � hotel -motel tax By SUSAN MARGOUS The Chapel His Herald . CHAPEL HILL --- The county commissioners this week became the fast elected body to support creating a countywide visitors bu- reau financed by a hotel motel WA_ But the Orange County Board 'of Commissioners stopped short of endorsing all five principles supported by the Hillsborough and Chapel Hill- Carrboro chambers of commerce, the county Economic Development Commission a ^4 Public 'I ite Part - neLship. County 'commissioners expressed res- ervations'^ °s Tuesday night } 'about a pro- posal telling Chapel Hill illholt town officials 'to commit 20 percent of their ex- isting hotel -motel tax to the pro- posed visitors bureau. i 'It just seems we ought to take 'care of our business and Chapel i Hill should take care of theirs," Commissioner Verla Insko said. She said she considered it awk- ward for one local government to tell another what to do. Commissioner Don Willhoit led ,the opposition, asking EDC offi- cials, "What's the rationale for asking Chapel Hill to kind of chip in twice?" EDC Director Ted Abernathy . 'said that only 7 percent of the tr- -i's current hotellmotel tax 6 directly to visitors services. The figure ranks lowest in the state, with most local govern- ments donating 50 percent or more to visitors services, he said. Members of the PPP visitors task force that proposed the hotel -motel tax thought the town The Chapel Hill Herald December 20, 1990 jshould contribute more, Abe- rnathy said. • Chapel Hill dedicates about 20 percent of its approximately $250.000 hotel -motel tax revenue to visitors services and cultural af- fairs, with most going to cultural affairs, Abernathy said Wed nesday. The PPP . task horse recom- mends: — Creating a muntwide entity to operate a countywide visitors services program. — Governing the bureau by members representing "appropri- ate organizations." — The county commissioners' seeking legislative authority to levy a countywide occupancy tax dedicated to the bureau.. County Manager John Link Jr.' suggested Carey and the mayors work out specifics, such as whether the tax should be 1 per- cent, 1.5 percent or 2 percent. "We. need to go ahead and ex- pedite this process," he said. Other questions, such as who would serve on the authority to oversee the visitors bureau and how it would functiOn, also need to be addressed, Link and Carey said. Insko noted that she had many questions about details of the pro- . posal that would need to be an- swered later. "We could spend all night asking about details." The Chapel Hill Town Council will hear the PPP report at its; Jan. 14 meeting, Howes said wide effort ought to be based on a countywide tax," he said He said he was not opposed to the PPP or other groups negotiat- ing with Chapel Hill officials ,about what percentage of tax rev- enues they should spend on visi- tors services. However, he said he didn't think county, officials should be involved in such deci- sions. Chapel Hill Mayor Jonathan Howes said Wednesday that he was glad the commissioners re- sponded as they did to the direc- tive to Chapel Hill, "It's one thing for the ppp to recommend that, but another for the commissioners," said Howes. Although Howes also serves as PPP president, he said he was — Seeking other private and government sources of funding. — Chapel Hill committing 20 per - cent of its current occupancy tax to the bureau. The proposed Orange County Visitor Development Authority would have a budget of $200,00 by 1992 -93, organizers said. The center would be financed by a tax of between 1 and 3 percent of hotels and motels throughout the county. Because Chapel Hill already lev- ies a 3 percent tax, the county- wide tax would increase the occu- pancy tax to between 3 and 6 percent. Willhoit indicated support of the proposal except for the direc- tive to Chapel Hill. "A county- commenting as the mayor. Commissioners' Chairman Moses Carey, who served on the PPP visitors task force, said the commissioners need to incorpo- rate the PPP plan into the legisla- tive package they will ask their local delegation to support in the 1991 General Assembly. He en- dorsed the substance of the pro- gram and tax, but warned that changes need to be made. Howes agreed that details need to be worked on. "It might re- quire some fine tuning," Howes said "Government bodies need to take a broader view" of the issues than the PPP and other groups took, he said. "There's a lot of de- tails to be worked out."