First Posted: 3/10/2015
LIMA —After almost a year of discussion and debate, Allen County commissioners approved changes to the county’s lodging tax during their Tuesday agenda meeting.
Commissioners approved a 3 percent tax increase, while also reducing the current 3 percent lodging tax by 1.25 percent, netting an effective tax increase of 1.75 percent. The new 3 percent addition, made possible by state legislation allowing counties to accept additional tax for veterans memorials, will fund both capital needs at the Civic Center as well as the creation of a new marketing position for the county.
“We’ve spent a tremendous amount of time weighing the implications of this legislation,” commissioner Jay Begg said during the meeting. “We think that with the passing of this legislation, along with the legislation to reduce the current tax, it is a compromise that meets the intent of the legislation and gives an opportunity for Allen County to go forward.”
County commissioners still have to complete memoranda of understanding with both the Civic Center board and the Lima/Allen County Convention and Visitors Bureau as to how the tax will be implemented.
“We’ve got agreements that are nearly done and can be signed before the tax starts to be collected April 1,” Begg said. “In our agreement, we’re going to have a thorough review at the end of three years to see where we’re at. Hopefully we’ll be making progress.”
This new tax will bring the total lodging tax for Allen County hotels up to 14.5 percent, a level that local hotel owners fear could make them less competative than hotels in neighboring counties, while also funding a competitor.
“We have 5,000 square feet of event space,” Jeff Lee, general manager of Lima’s Howard Johnson Inn, said Feb. 26. “I’m concerned that I will have to ask my customers to pay this increased tax , which will artificially inflate the cost of my business, and these tax dollars will go to fund my competitor.”
However, Christine Pleva, executive director for the Convention and Visitors Bureau, hopes this arrangement will yield positive results for everyone.
“It’s been a long process, but I think now we’re heading in a positive direction, with compromises on both sides,” she said. “I’d like to see us all move forward and have a very successful tourism season in Allen County.”
