Henderson County commissioners drop tax increase proposal - for now

From the Times-News, a report on today's special commissioners' meeting on raising the occupancy tax:

An issue one Henderson County commissioner said has "polarized" the community came to no definitive conclusion Wednesday, as the vote to raise the county's occupancy tax by 1 percent was delayed for at least six more months.

At the request of Commissioners Mike Edney and Larry Young, the board decided unanimously to table the vote during one of its most highly anticipated meetings of the year. The delay will give the new Henderson Tourism Development Authority a chance to get established and weigh in on the matter, commissioners said.

The board voted in May to ask state legislators to give them the authority to increase the room tax from 5 percent to 6 percent so the extra money could be directed to Flat Rock Playhouse, a proposal that has outraged many in the community for giving tax dollars to a private entity.

Funds from the extra 1 percent tax would go to the Playhouse for two years, as long as commissioners give final approval to the measure, in the amount of about $450,000.

The commissioners' meeting room was packed for Wednesday's forum and included plenty of Playhouse supporters as well as members of the accommodations industry, who strongly oppose a room-tax hike because they say it will cause them to lose business to surrounding counties with lower rates....

Speaking on behalf of the municipalities that have representation on the new tourism authority, Hendersonville Mayor Barbara Volk, Fletcher Town Manager Mark Biberdorf and Flat Rock Mayor Bob Staton also gave brief presentations.

Volk and Staton — while expressing their support for the Playhouse — each said their respective councils had not taken an official position on the matter. Biberdorf said the Fletcher Town Council unanimously opposed it because it believed no one entitiy should be singled out to receive the extra revenue and that the tourism authority should control the funds.

The Chamber of Commerce also has representation on the authority, and President Bob Williford said that while area businesses were "100 percent supportive" of the Playhouse itself, they expressed "varying levels" of support for the room-tax increase....

[Vincent Marini, producing artistic director for the Playhouse] added that misinformation and misunderstandings have led to much of the opposition regarding the proposal, and that no one would be adversely affected by a 1 percent room-tax increase other than those in the accommodations industry. [Ed. - well, yeah]


And, while Marini said he respects the accommodation industry's concerns, he doesn't think the extra 70 cents a night that hotel guests would pay for the average cost of lodging in the county — $69 — would drive them to away.

Marini said the additional revenue would be used to leverage its $500,000 marketing budget to bring in more visitors to both the Playhouse and the area overall, but many at Wednesday's meeting — including the newly formed Henderson County Accommodations Association — argued that the tourism authority should lead and direct tourism development efforts, "linking with (the Playhouse's) work where beneficial."

The tourism authority officially takes effect and has its first meeting scheduled for Sept. 1.

Read it all, and check out info at the Hendersonville Lightning as well. Let's see, six months from now is February--mark your calendars.