Inn owners: 'No occupancy tax'
By Steve Herring
Published in News on July 12, 2015 1:50 AM
MOUNT OLIVE -- The owners of the Sleep Inn in Mount Olive say they were unaware that a plan to increase Goldsboro's hotel occupancy tax had been ditched in favor of a countywide tax to help support a planned $16 million agriculture/convention center in the city.
Stephanie and Kevin Kornegay said they first learned of the change after receiving an email from Mount Olive Town Manager Charles Brown telling them that they should expect the tax bill soon.
State Rep. John Bell has confirmed that a countywide occupancy tax is in the making and that a meeting is expected to be held this week to further explore that option.
Bell said local legislators are also trying to negotiate for money for the center in the state budget and that he is trying to have it included in the governor's proposed bond referendum package.
Goldsboro has "every right" to build a convention center, the Kornegays said in a letter to the editor. Also, it is well known that the Cooperative Extension Service needs new office space," the Kornegay said.
"Where we disagree is levying a hotel occupancy tax on the people in Mount Olive and the businesses that do business in Mount Olive to pay for it," they wrote. "Our hotel is the only one in the county not in Goldsboro. The money that we would be taxed will go solely to build and maintain the Goldsboro agri-convention center, and the tax will last forever.
"We already have first-rate facilities here in Mount Olive at the University of Mount Olive that draw the types and size events that are proposed for the Goldsboro facility. We do gain hotel room nights from these events. Lois Britt Agribusiness Center, Southern Bank Auditorium, the Hazel Waters Assembly Concert Hall and Kornegay Arena are all excellent venues for events."
Ms. Kornegay said they also had been unaware of meetings in Raleigh between Bell and Wayne County, Goldsboro and travel and tourism officials.
She said they have contacted local legislators and Wayne County District 2 Commissioner Ed Cromartie of Mount Olive.
Bell originally filed a bill on April 1 to increase the Goldsboro occupancy tax from 5 to 6 cents. The bill passed its first reading and was referred to the House Committee on Finance on April 2. As part of an agreement the city would give the county 12 acres of land on North Wayne Memorial Drive on which to build the center.
In exchange for the county increasing the size of the assembly area, the city agreed to ask for the occupancy tax increase and to provide 33 percent of the additional revenues for the first 20 years for the center and 25 percent thereafter.
That money would be used by the county to help fund the center and its operations.
"The original bill we put forth was considered out of compliance with what traditionally would be occupancy tax guidelines that the travel and tourism industry supports," Bell said. "We were able to work all of that out through a couple of different meetings with the city and county up in Raleigh and all of the delegation and we met.
"We agreed on a plan that would do a county-wide occupancy tax that would go for solely marketing everything in Wayne County. That is the plan that we are currently under. I was able to get that worked out with all of the powers that be. Everybody agreed with it, from the city and the county and the travel and tourism lobby. We are going to look to putting that bill forward in the next couple of weeks."
The bill had been on the House calendar just prior to the Fourth of July break, but was pulled to allow one "last meeting with everybody" to make sure they are all on the same page, Bell said.
Bell said the process is under way to pull that meeting together.
Switching to a county-wide occupancy tax will provide the county with more "freedom" to use the revenues than it would have before, Bell said.
"If we had gone with original formula, we would have used a certain percentage of this (increase) for marketing and a certain percent of this for the ag center. The way the plan is written now the one percent, the new occupancy tax, would be for marketing and the rest we would be able to use for moving forward with the ag center. So it allows a lot more discretion than what we would have had under that provision."
The University of Mount Olive boasts a "top-notch" agriculture program that has a 100 percent graduation straight to the workplace rate, the Kornegays wrote in their letter.
"In fact we would love to have the agriculture component to this closer to us or at least coordinated in some way to benefit the university," the Kornegays wrote. "Could be a win/win for the whole county.
"But as it stands now, it seems that we will be in competition for the events that we have already worked so hard to bring to Wayne County. This convention center will cost us hotel room nights. You see, we are located over 20 miles from the proposed site on the southern border of the county. We have been in the hotel business for many years and have worked closely with the travel and tourism folks. A convention center in northern Goldsboro will not bring hotel nights to Mount Olive, plain and simple."
They added, "Goldsboro travel and tourism says that they will take some of their city occupancy tax and help promote the N.C. Pickle Festival, already the largest festival by far in the area and one of the biggest in the state, drawing 25,000 to 40,000 folks to Mount Olive and Wayne County.
"This doesn't make sense for the city of Goldsboro to promise to spend their money on a Mount Olive event that is already successful, while Mount Olive would be mandated by tax to send money to Goldsboro to build and later maintain their facility forever."