Voters to be asked for more lodging
tax
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Scott N. Miller
May 17, 2005
VAIL - It's going to take more money to build a conference
center in Vail. Voters will decide this fall whether to raise it.
To build a center, voters will be asked to roughly double the lodging tax they
passed in November of 2002. The exact amount of the increase voters are asked
for will be nailed down in the next few weeks.
A ballot issue for a tax hike could effectively kill a petition drive launched
earlier this spring to force another vote on the center.
The council's 6-1 vote - with Councilor Diana Donovan opposed - came after a
long explanation of an ultimately simple fact: The taxes approved in 2002 won't
pay for the conference center that's now in the planning stages.
Town officials say the center as proposed is anywhere between $7 million and $17
million too expensive based on the money available, a 1.5 percent lodging tax
and .5 percent sales tax.
Council members were presented three options: Killing the
center, making it small enough to fit the money available, or asking for more
money.
With the exception of Donovan and a group of opponents in the audience,
sentiment generally favored trying to find more money to build what's been
proposed: A building with about 40,000 square feet of meeting space, located on
the east end of the Lionshead parking structure.
In addition to steadily rising construction costs, council members were also
concerned about the prospect of essentially permanent operating deficits.
An economic study by HVS Convention, Sports & Entertainment Facilities
Consulting of Chicago indicates the operating losses will hover around $1
million, even after the facility is established.
That's well above the amount in the current tax available for operations,
roughly $800,000 per year of the $3.5 million raised.
"It's clear that $800,000 is not sufficient to handle the operating
deficits," Councilor Kent Logan said.
Logan, who is also chairman of the town's conference center advisory committee
said he has been focused on one main point: reducing risk to town taxpayers as
much as possible. About the only way to do that, Logan said, is boost the
current $3.5 million dedicated to the center to at least $5 million.
Logan added that doubling the lodging tax dedicated to the center would add
about $4 to the average room rate in Vail.
"The outcome is good for tonight," said Tom Steinberg, a member of the
petition committee seeking another vote on the center.
Steinberg wasn't quite ready to pronounce the petition drive
dead, but added, "If they do what they said they'll do, then it probably
is."
Vail resident Mark Gordon, long a supporter of the conference center, said the
council did what it needed to do.
"This was really the only thing that could be done," Gordon said.
While council members agreed to put the whole tax burden on lodges, one lodge
manager said he'd like to see the burden spread around more.
"I think the more fair thing would be a package similar to the one in
2002," said Rob LeVine, manager of the Antlers in Lionshead. "But we
have to balance fairness with pragmatism. People said in 2002 we'd never get a
sales tax passed, but we did. But do we really want to push that again now?
Probably not."
Staff Writer Scott Miller can be reached at 949-0555, ext. 613, or smiller@vaildaily.com
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If voters say yes
December 2005: Bonds are sold
April 2006: Groundbreaking