The following chronology details the genesis of the city’s occupational lodging tax and the aftermath of its approval by voters.
June 2006 – City is awarded a $46K Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) grant to fund a recreation master plan to serve as an assessment, vision and action plan for parks, recreation, trails and open space; the a formal bidding process, a contract is awarded to Denver-based GreenPlay LLC.
2007 – GreenPlay compiles a comprehensive inventory of park and recreation resources, examines applicable national and regional trends, hosts focused stakeholder meetings and surveys citizens to arrive at the conclusions included in their final report and recommendations.
February 2008 – City council adopts GreenPlay’s recreation master plan for the city with minor modifications.
May/June 2008 – Acting on recommendations in the recreation master plan, the city votes to create a recreation advisory committee. The following residents are appointed to serve on the committee along with City Recreation Director Trish Bews and City Public Works Director Rob Vance: Bill Smith, Mike Harvey, Heather Gorby, Darren Bachand, and Cheri Schleicher; alternates are Joyce Close and Lisa Marvel.
Aug. 4 – Acting on recommendations in the recreation master plan, Salida City Council considers whether to ask voters to approve an occupational lodging tax of $2 per night per occupied room on lodging accommodations in the city for the purpose of funding capital improvements and operational expenses for parks and recreation and arts facilities in the city and setting the title and content of the ballot issue for the election. Council votes to approve the ballot measure at $4.82. Hugh Young, who had proposed $2, is the lone dissenter to the increase to $4.82.
Sept. 23 – Mayor Chuck Rose and Interim City Administrator Mike Copp meet with some 30 local lodgers, Monarch Mountain and the Salida Chamber to hear their concerns about Ballot Measure 2B. Lodgers itemize their primary concerns as follows:
• Council did not obtain enough input from the lodging industry regarding the importance of the pool to our visitors
• council did not significantly weight the impact this occupancy tax will have on Salida and its competitive market.
• Council did not significantly weigh the impact this decision will have on the visitors to the community.
• Council did not significantly weigh the impact (the tax) will have on the visitor industry during these extremely difficult economic times.
• (The tax) will have a negative impact on the full spectrum of our visitor industry and we know that this is not what the council wants or anticipated.
Sept. 23 – Following their morning meeting and armed with new information about the initiative and referendum process and timelines, lodgers ask the city to consider removing measure 2B from the ballot or simply not count it.
Sept. 25 – John Englebrecht (Salida Chamber), Greg Ralph (Monarch Mountain), Don Jackson (lodgers’ spokesperson) meet with City Councilmen Scott Damman and Tom Yerkey to discuss 2B.
Sept. 30 – Lodgers meet and agree to accept a proposal wherein they won’t oppose 2B in exchange for council reducing the tax to $2.50 if the measure passes.
Oct. 6 – City Council passes a resolution formalizing the accord with the lodgers, agreeing to lower the tax rate to $2.50 – if voters approve 2B – in exchange for lodgers’ “active expressions of support.”
Oct. 15 – Lodgers receive a formal Letter of Intent outlining the terms of the accord. Jackson said the Salida Chamber and Monarch would not sign the letter fearing 2B conflicted with the Chaffee County Visitor’s Bureau lodging tax.
Oct. 21 – Don Jackson alerts the city to a possible conflict between city and county lodging taxes. At issue is whether passage and enactment of 2B may preclude the county from collecting its 1.9 percent lodging tax on all hotels located with in the city of Salida. Estimated loss of revenue to the Chaffee County Visitor’s Bureau is upwards of $175,000.
• County Attorney Jenny Davis issues a memo saying that after looking at the language of 2B she has “some comfort that Salida’s tax will not reduce the County’s tax.”
• Leavenworth and Karp, legal counsel for the city, send a memo to the city saying that in their opinion collection of the county’s lodging tax would not be impacted by Sailda’s occupational lodging tax, described as a “a type of excise tax.”
Oct. 23 – David Waller, attorney for the Colorado Hotel Lodging Association, says he believes 2B may conflict with the county lodging tax although he had not seen the actual 2B ballot language.
Nov. 3 –Don Jackson tells lodgers that Mike Copp told him that the State Department of Revenue told Copp that collection of the county lodging tax could not occur if 2B passes.
Nov. 4 – Voters approve ballot measure 2B; 1,437 for, 1,394 against.
Nov. 17 – At first reading of the occupational lodging tax, city council agrees to a fee range of $2.50 to $4.82 pending a meeting to negotiate terms with the lodging community.
Nov. 20 – A group of some 20 lodgers, including the head of the Colorado Hotel Lodging Association and its lawyer, meet with Mike Copp and Hugh Young to negotiate the terms of enactment of 2B. Both sides agree to a second meeting, with fewer people, on Nov. 25.
Nov. 25 – Scheduled meeting between lodging industry and city representatives.
Dec. 1 – Scheduled City Council second reading regarding enactment of the voter-approved occupational lodging tax.
Please read related content:
2B or Not To Be
Key Stakeholders’ Views
Recent Comments