Fort Smith A&P endorse 1% tax, lease agreement
by February 7, 2011 11:58 am 99 views
At a special called Monday morning (Feb. 7), the Fort Smith Advertising & Promotion Commission put its stamp of approval on a proposed Fort Smith Convention Center lease agreement and an ordinance that would enact a 1% prepared food tax to fund convention center operations.
The tax does not go into effect unless or until the Fort Smith Board of Directors approves the ordinance or the ordinance is approved in a municipal election.
A Tuesday (Feb. 8) Fort Smith board study session includes a review of the lease agreement and 1% prepared food tax ordinance.
The Fort Smith board spent most of 2008, 2009 and 2010 seeking a solution to plug the annual deficit. A state turnback program ended in June 2010 from which the city received about $1.8 million a year. In 2010, the city received only $888,723. A fund balance will allow the city to cover the convention center shortfall for most of 2011.
An ad hoc convention center committee formed by the city board met several times in Spring 2010 and reviewed many funding options, including a 1% hospitality tax, finding cuts in the city’s roughly $40 million operating budget, reallocating a portion of the city’s 1% street tax, re-instituting a business license fee and finding a 3rd party operator. That group eventually endorsed a 1% prepared food tax.
Monday’s vote endorsing the 1% prepared food tax ordinance was 6-0, with City Director Don Hutchings, a member of the A&P Commission, abstaining. Tom Caldarera, a restaurant owner, and Debra Presson, assistant manager and catering director at Golden Corral restaurant in Fort Smith, voted to endorse the 1% tax and the lease agreement.
Presson, who said she was speaking as an A&P Commissioner and not as a restaurant employee, said the tax will not hurt restaurants because people “are not going to not eat out” because a $5 meal will cost an extra 5 cents.
“Obviously, we’re not crazy about the tax, but it needs to be done,” Presson said.
Not all restaurant owners support the 1% prepared food tax. A restaurant group led by Eddie York is working to oppose the effort.