County still waiting on hotel tax OK
By Steve Herring
Published in News on September 7, 2015 1:46 PM
Supporters of a county-wide one-percent hotel occupancy tax remain optimistic that the General Assembly will enact the tax even though the bill has been sitting in the Senate Finance Committee since Aug. 4.
And until the bill becomes law, the county is unable to act on major decisions concerning its proposed $16 million to $18 million regional agricultural and convention center.
"I think if it hadn't been for all of these continuing (budget) resolutions, we would have this bill," Wayne County Commissioner Bill Pate said. "But I feel confident it will pass."
Until it does, the project is in "limbo," said Pate, who also chairs the commission's Agricultural Advisory Committee.
Pate said he has corresponded by email with Sen. Louis Pate of Mount Olive, telling him that "big decisions" cannot be made until the bill becomes law.
The bill cleared the House on July 21 and was sent to the Senate where it passed its first reading on July 22.
It was first sent to the Senate State and Local Government Committee. It was moved directly to the Finance Committee at the request of Louis Pate.
Louis Pate said it is his understanding there are similar tax bills for other counties and that the committee is considering rolling them all into one bill.
He also thinks that the bill will pass before the Legislature adjourns.
Revenue from the tax can only be used for marketing related to travel and tourism and not construction of the center.
Once the bill passes, there are still two more steps in the process.
First, commissioners must levy the tax by resolution. Secondly, they must create the Wayne County Tourism Development Authority that would be charged with how the money is spent to promote travel and tourism in the county.
Bill Pate said he likes the idea of the county authority reflecting the makeup of the Goldsboro Travel and Tourism board, so that only one board would be needed to promote travel and tourism in the county.
The bill has not been without controversy, drawing opposition from the owners of the Sleep Inn in Mount Olive.
A compromise, which was approved by the Mount Olive Town Board and commissioners, was reached in which 70 percent of the sales tax revenue collected in Mount Olive would be placed in a separate fund.
Money in that fund would be used to promote travel and tourism in Mount Olive.
County officials say that the one percent countywide tax carries out the original intent of the county's agreement with Goldsboro for the city's sports complex and agriculture and convention center.
Under the original agreement, the bill would have increased Goldsboro's hotel occupancy tax from 5 to 6 percent. To comply with state travel and tourism guidelines the decision was made to switch to a countywide tax.
As part of the agreement, the city will 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 county would also loan Goldsboro $3 million at 1.5 percent interest over 15 years for the sports complex.
"We will have to do a new local agreement with the city of Goldsboro since the old one was based on a city tax," Bill Pate said.
The agreement cannot be revised until the fate of the hotel tax bill is decided, he said.
The county plans to seek local, state and federal funding for the project.
The paperwork for $2 million in USDA loans and $600,000 in grants has been submitted
Also, Convergent Nonprofit Solutions is conducting a fundraising campaign for the project.
Pate said he was aware that one bill introduced in the Senate by Sen. Don Davis would earmark $3 million for the project.
"I knew that would never happen," he said. "There might be a compromise in the budget, but no one had shown it to us yet. I am turning over every rock I can find that might have cash under it."
Another decision that remains to be made is whether the county will continue with H&H Architects, the company that was hired to design the first 35 percent of the center.
Designing the project that way allows the county options in how to proceed with construction.
Pate said he could not speak for his fellow commissioners, but that the county has a good working relationship with H&H and that he thinks it would save time to allow the company to complete the design.
There have been preliminary discussions among Agriculture Advisory Committee members about hiring a director for the county's proposed regional agriculture and convention center.
Commissioners had initially said that the booking for events at the new center would be handled by Wayne County Extension Service Director Kevin Johnson, who currently books events at the Wayne Center
"Kevin does a great job, but he has a full-time job," Pate said. "You are really going to need a person to book events.
Pate said that Betsy Rosemann, Goldsboro Travel and Tourism director, had told him the center would need to be book events out a year in advance.
"As soon as we break ground we will need to start hiring someone," he said.