Too little to late, IMO, when it comes to the hotel room tax increase in Sioux Falls. Leave it to the badass Argus Endorser Editorial board to scold our city government after the fact;
The board should narrow the options down quickly, however, and resist putting the money toward attracting new airlines or building a new events center.
Invest the hotel tax money into promotional efforts to get more people into Sioux Falls hotel rooms.
The strategy should be as simple as that.
Where were you before the city council passed this stupid tax increase? Did any one from your esteemed media empire ask city councilors what the money was going to be spent on? Nope. But you are sure full of ideas now.
A little birdy told me that an opposition group is seriously looking into getting an initiative on the ballot to overturn the tax. I’ll keep you posted as I know more. And NO I am not involved.
The AL is wrong on this one, a room tax should be part of the broader package of funding options for the Events Center. One of the primary points that the opposition raises is “those who use it should pay for it” and I agree with that to a point.
The CVB somehow has convinced the Council and Mayor that all they need is some more and better marketing to make their existing, inadequate and poorly located facility a success.
Is Kermit involved? He seems to be showing up more and more in the media.
He is also going after ‘Build America’ bonds.
Not sure if Kermit is involved. His comment to me was he doesn’t think the public cares about the issue.
I find it interesting what the public gets excited about. If the mayor would have been honest about using the tax for an events center the public would have more engaged.