Group seeks hotel/motel tax hike

By Iva Butler
of The Daily Times Staff

Area leaders and business people, mostly from Townsend, voted to ask Blount County Commission for a 1 percent increase in the hotel/motel tax to finance the purchase of 32 acres for sale beside Townsend Visitors Center.

Currently the 4 percent hotel/motel tax brings in $40 million a year, with 38 percent going to the county general fund, 2 percent to the county office that collects the money and 60 percent to Smoky Mountain Convention and Visitors Bureau.

An additional 1 percent tax would bring in $400,000 per year.

The group of people interested in the Townsend property formed a Stakeholder Committee earlier this year and hired a consultant to come up with a concept plan for future use of the property.

Meanwhile, the Blount County Growth Management Advisory Committee suggested the possibility of raising the hotel/motel tax and splitting it between county growth management initiatives and the Visitors Bureau.

Bryon Begley, chair of the chamber Tourism and Travel Council, chaired a Stakeholder meeting Wednesday at which 100 percent in attendance voted to seek the money from Blount County Commission for the purchase of the Townsend property.

The land is currently used for parking at all Townsend Visitors Center festivals, a vital part of all festivals.

The Visitors Bureau has an option on the purchase of the 10 acres directly beside the visitors center through March 2009.

Another adjacent 22 acres has come up for sale. The Stakeholder Committee views the two tracts as necessary to continue holding festivals.

Begley said the Visitors Bureau was considering requesting an additional 1 percent tax be added when the Blount County growth management group came up with its suggestion.

Herb Handly, executive vice president for tourism of Smoky Mountain Convention and Visitors Bureau, said, "It is obvious to me that 1 percent is up for grabs. My feeling is and my comment to County Commission is that if that tax is increased, let's invest it in something we can get a return on."

"The property could be the answer to making Townsend what it needs to be. More visitor services could make Townsend a destination point, which would benefit the whole county," he said.

If it was a destination point, visitors would spend more at area businesses, restaurants and hotel/motel and other lodging establishments.

Handly said he "doesn't think we can wait any longer" to try and obtain funding on the property.

Don Headrick, owner/operator of Highland Manor with wife Sandy, said he would also like to see other revenue sources pursued other than just hotel/motel, such as money from the city of Townsend.

Townsend Mayor Shannon Skidmore said Townsend City Commission endorses the effort to obtain the land, but city revenues are limited. Townsend does not have a property tax.

Businessman Tom Enos said the Stakeholder Committee should ask the county for the 1 percent to purchase the property and also look for other funding options.

If increased hotel/motel taxes were secured for the property, the land would belong to Blount County.

Some potential uses for the property that have been suggested to the Hedstrom Design Landscape Architecture consultation group of Knoxville thus far include a Cades Cove interpretive center, retail space, nature center, park resources center, agri-tourism area, craft village, classrooms, banquet space, picnic areas, enclosed pavilion and IMAX Theater.

One tentative layout plan would keep green space and an open view of the landscape toward East Lamar Alexander Parkway. This open space could be used for festivals, parking and sports fields.

Handly said most counties in the state with hotel/motel taxes levy at least 5 percent.