Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether appointed a committee last summer to review the Convention and Visitors Bureau–Business Improvement District board’s use of the $2-per-room-per-night tax that Sioux Falls hotel operators asked for in 2010 to promote events that would increase their business. Monday the committee wrapped up its review and concluded that the BID board is doing a good job and should carry on as before.
In other words, Mayor Huether doesn’t get to snatch this fund away from the hoteliers to build his own projects.
Scott Ehrisman properly highlights the two key quotes from the committee and the mayor’s office. Hotel exec and District 13 Republican legislator Steve Westra says forming this committee was just another Huether power grab:
Steve Westra, chief operating officer for hotel owner Hegg Companies and a vocal critic who has questioned the need for the review, said the review committee was an unsuccessful “money grab” by the mayor. He said he appreciates that the committee isn’t recommending capital spending as a legitimate use for the fund.
“(The mayor) has taken several runs with trying to use dollars outside of what it’s intended for,” Westra said. “We get the sense that the mayor sees it as a road block” [Joe Sneve, “Hotel Tax Recommendations Frustrate City Hall,” that Sioux Falls paper, 2015.12.21].
Rep. Westra happens to be District 13 seatmate with Rep. G. Mark Mickelson, who might face Huether in the 2018 race for governor.
Mayor Huether has been too busy improving traffic flow at I-229 and Louise and telling Sioux Fallsians not to punch each other to respond to Westra directly. He dispatched city finance director Tracy Turbak to dismiss Westra’s dismissal:
“I think the influence of the strenuous defense of the status quo is certainly reflected in the recommendations,” Turbak said [Sneve, 2015.12.21].
As Ehrisman notes, status quo isn’t always a dirty word. If something is working—and no one has shown that the hotel tax isn’t working—there’s no need to change it just because a rich and powerful mayor wants to.
Check out our video citizen activism at work changing the dialogue. http://www.southdacola.com/blog/2015/12/bid-tax-buffoonery/
.
Some people lose teeth over stuff like this…
Why is it a function of government to impose a tax and then give the tax dollars collected to a business group composed of the businesses whose business was taxed so those businesses can promote their business?
This is not a government imposed tax but a fee added to the hotel bills of travelers to be used only by the Convention and Visitors Bureau to encourage more tourism. The money is not collected by the city and is not controlled by the city. It is a self funded initiative to encourage out of town people to use Sioux Falls hotel beds.
The mayor wants to use it to promote his agenda at the expense of the good it appears to already be doing. If there is money in a public or private pot somewhere in Sioux Falls, Tracy Turbak’s job is to secure it for the mayor for his use.
We do videos of local meetings and events to let more people understand what is actually happening here in the boomtown. http://www.siouxfall.org
Bruce thank you for all you do.The mayor is just what I thought he was.He only cares for himself and his agenda.
Oh goodness. Just because the Chamber of Commerce and some hotel owners got together to Tax there guests does not mean it is right. It also does not mean that the Mayor is right. This Mayor has done more for Sioux Falls than the last five or six combined. He is a doer, like Bill Janklow. He upsets folks, but he gets things done. Bruce, your criticism of him here is unfounded. Cory, yours lacks your normal thorough research and even handed look. Cory, the whole idea of a BID is Crony Capitalism. Let us take another look at this issue. And, if you happen to be a D do not underestimate this guy.
Are hotels able to opt out of billing their customers this “fee”? If it’s a fee it’s a fee disguised as a tax. If the business group wants money to promote their business they should just devise a method to assess each member business a membership fee to be paid as a condition for membership.
The mayor may be a doer but he must follow the Charter, law, both the state and U.S. Constitutions first. He is a user and abuser of the system. He considers it a hindrance to follow them as he climbs over the “hurdles” he surmounts.
.
A group of us have been imprisoned, gone to court, threatened with jail, fined, been issued fees, been criminally assaulted in the City Council Chamber and/or otherwise abused in this administration’s efforts to dominate everything in Sioux Falls. The aforementioned “doer” and “getting things done” mentality are questionably legal at best.
.
We question the process and challenge those who cheat the citizens who work hard to pay for the perks this mayor enjoys. Our mayor leads our local government like he is still issuing sub prime credit cards. Abuse those who have no voice and reap the benefits personally.
.
Our 200+ videos at http://www.siouxfall.org tell a story of abuse of system, check them out and you be the judge. We will soon be adding several hundred more videos for researching.
It’s a tax on visitors that every other metropolitan city in the US charges their lodging customers. At least after SF collects the tax/fee it goes back to promoting more visitors to our city, which also spend money shopping and eating which goes directly into local business and the city’s kitty.
Nothing is broken here. Let’s move along.
“This Mayor has done more for Sioux Falls than the last five or six combined.”
Well, Chuck, I would have to agree. He has pretty much dismantled any sense of transparency that once existed, he has terminated key people in city government, and he has almost doubled our city debt, raised taxes/fees and has eliminated many programs that help our less fortunate citizens. So yes, he is getting things done.
“He is a doer, like Bill Janklow. He upsets folks, but he gets things done.”
I would also agree with this statement, Mike like Bill have no problem stepping all over the little guy to ‘get things done’. Being upset is one thing, getting screwed over is another.
The Mayor is home free if Bruce and South DaCola are his opposition. Nick, they can not opt out. Sioux Falls has another BID for promoting Downtown Sioux Falls’ agenda.
I have never considered myself opposition to the mayor or any other public official. In 50 years of political action I have never opposed anyone individual only promoted process. Our city government like so many others, has refused to follow the process for the good of citizens. Following legal process without personal gain is what we fight for.
I’ve always been a bit of a skeptic when it comes to using tax dollars for business promotion. Is this tax just on lodging or is it also on meals and drinks? What uses are allowable under state law? Shouldn’t tax dollars be used more directly to benefit the general public?
I’ll restate it, if businesses want money to advertise why shouldn’t they just pony up their own money?
Chuck and Nick, you raise a reasonable objection to the whole scheme. I suppose this is kind of like the beef check-off program. Or maybe it’s kind of like the local owners requiring everyone to belong to a hotel union… although this union serves management, not labor. If the hotel owners want to promote events and boost their business, why don’t they all just agree to charge their guests two dollars extra and pool the proceeds for their marketing schemes?
All hotels etc agreeing to charge an extra $2 sounds like price-fixing to me. These schemes also always seem to be less than transparent in their operation.
So far this voluntary promotion program has the appearance of working it’s intended purpose. It is a separate line item on the hotel bill not included in the hotel’s revenue line for taxation purposes.
This is not a government program but it benefits the government by encouraging taxable spending.
Follow the money? When the Hotel/Motel owners collect the money form their customers, to whom do they report? Where are the funds sent? Seems like a system like this could be used to benefit any business group, couldn’t it?
Bruce, it is not voluntary.
For example, why couldn’t artists, musicians, dancers, actors, live theatre, and poets get a deal going like this, and try to get more people involved in the appreciation of the Arts in South Dakota? All the tourism studies say that the tourists who spend the most are those interested in the culture of the area they are visiting. Why just have a tax on motel beds to promote sleeping motel beds? Why not instead use that fund to market local culture and art? (By the way, on Cory’s other thread about wages, did anyone else notice that the most underpaid market segments in SD had to do with those requiring creative skills? …well, that and air traffic controllers.) Anyway, just thinking out loud over here. Merry Christmas everybody.
Ah Bill, it is my understanding that is generally what the Mayor wants to do. But, the hotel folks think this is there money. It is not. It is the City of Sioux Falls money. It should be up to the City to decide how to spend it.
Nobody’s going to pay a tax to listen to poetry, Mr. Fleming. I, for one, would pay to not have to listen to it. So you might have something there, you could extort patrons at the Hay Camp Brewing place to pay you or you’ll read poetry.
People spend a lot of time voluntarily reading you grudznick. I think your author should get paid for it.What’s wrong with that idea? By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you, are you friends with Kilgore Trout?
(I hereby submit my hypothesis that the only reason Cory allows the grudznick character to post here under pseudonym is because he is creative with language, and adds to the culture of the place.)
(Grudz, Bill is right about getting paid. Ring the tip jar already! And Merry Christmas!)
By culture would you be referring to mold as in a petri dish?
Ah! Bruce helps me realize that implementing the $2 charge as a tax rather than some voluntary fixed price, the hotels don’t have to count it as taxable income.
But wait: Nick, when ranchers pay their beef check-off, do they deduct that amount from their taxable income?
Not to mention, Mr. Fleming, my polite old conventions have caught on quite contagiously across Mr. H’s blog.
I think Grudz means he is tolerated.
I am the most loved Conservative on the blog.
Grudznick, I am trying to figure out what word you were typing that must have been changed to “loved” by spellcheck/autocorrect.
Merry Christmas.
Cory, when I sell cattle the sale barn subtracts their commission and the $1/head checkoff fee. I declare as income for income tax purposes only the amount of the check I receive from the sale barn.
The beef checkoff differs from this room tax in one important aspect, the room tax is paid by the buyer of the night in the hotel room by an addition to their bill not the provider of hotel rooms out of their income, I pay the checkoff out of money that would otherwise be paid to me, it isn’t added to the bill of the buyer of the cattle.
Heuther is an azz. And a Democrat to boot. I don’t need any more reason to dislike this jackwagon. I can swear like a sailor but this guy beat me hands down when he stopped in while I was working and shook my hand while campaigning for his first term. F this, F that. Yikes!
isn’t the room tax, in the statewide scope of economic development theory, used for promoting sioux falls tourism similar to purposes served by sd dept. tourism which spends public dollars to promote our entire economy for the good of all?
chuck seems to be right @ 15:28. its like grudz standin’ behind a food stamps user, thinking tax dollars are being misspent based on choices he can’t stomach. its not his money.
pretty much the whole republican philosophy to everything. greed. pretty much the state of republican corruption in a little state. MCEC, teacher pay, CEO and management salaries, EB5, and now DBH consent siting. there is always a fat cat complaining when someone explains “you didn’t build it”.
the mayor (D.) likely has a broader vision than rep. westra (R.)
rather than using a “blue ribbon commission” to come up with excuses for taking way “westra’s money”, he allowed a group (obviously not “stacked”) to democratically say yea or nay. his power (assuming his city attorney said it was legal) to push necessary movement from the status quo was likely an exercise of leadership, his job. though not from sx falls, my impression of him has been good. fwiw
“But, the hotel folks think this is there money. It is not. It is the City of Sioux Falls money. It should be up to the City to decide how to spend it.”
Technically it is neither. It is not paid by SF citizens, it is paid by visitors. It only makes sense to use the money to attract more visitors, who besides spend money on a hotel rooms, also purchase other goods and services in the city which benefits the city coffers.
As for the question about the ‘7th’ penny, also known as the entertainment tax. One of those ‘short term’ taxes that never has gone away. Initially the tax was for paying off the Pavilion Bonds, which it has done. Now they use the money to do maintenance to the Pavilion, which usually exceeds a million each year, because of all the shoddy work done during it’s initial construction. Since it will probably never go away, I would like to see the money dispersed for maintenance to all city owned facilities, or better yet, use it to pay down the EC bonds.
It’s not the visitors money, while they paid it they had no other choice. It belongs to the governmental subdivision that had the authority to impose the tax.