County Room Tax Ordinance Possible at Next Meeting

On Monday, the McCracken Fiscal Court discussed a proposed new transient room tax that could help cover the cost of a future multi-sports facility.

Commissioner Eddie Jones said he has been continuing discussions with County Attorney Sam Clymer and Deputy Judge-Executive Steve Doolittle about the language of the new transient room tax, and hopes to present it at the next meeting in two weeks. 

In joint meetings, city and county leaders have discussed dissolving the existing Convention & Visitors Bureau, which is a joint entity, and creating two separate tourism commissions, one run by each government. That could enable collection of a ten percent total transient room tax instead of the current six percent. The additional new taxes would be used in part to pay the debt on a proposed sports complex. 

Concerns about continued city-county cooperation, an ongoing city study about possible locations of a sports complex, and a future interlocal agreement were voiced, but Judge-Executive Clymer said his weekly discussions with Mayor Brandi Harless and City Manager Jim Arndt lead him to believe that everyone is still on the same page. He said the interlocal agreement should be carefully written to ensure that the two new agencies are separate but cooperative in nature, and that another level of bureaucracy isn't formed that could create obstacles for city and county leaders.