Cities, counties to appoint tax board members

Cities, counties to appoint tax board members

By Cliff Sain
BDN Staff Writer


A board trying to place a tourism tax on the November ballot will be undergoing some changes.

The Branson/Lakes Area Tourism Community Enhancement Board of Directors decided this week how it will transition from a board appointed mostly by chambers of commerce, to a board appointed entirely by cities and counties.

The board had to choose whether to simply allow chamber appointees' terms to expire naturally, or whether the chamber appointees should resign at the end of the month when new legislation goes into effect requiring the change in appointments.

"We chose option A," board President Kent Turner said.

The board is working to place an issue on the Nov. 8 election ballot that would, if approved, raise an additional $6 million a year to promote the Branson area. If approved, the legislation would allow a one-cent sales tax to be collected within a district that includes Branson, Silver Dollar City, Indian Point Village and State Park Marina. Only residents of the district will vote on the issue. The tax would not apply to hotels, theaters and ticketed attraction within the Branson city limits, because they already pay a four-cent tourism tax.

The tourism board would then take on the responsibility of determining what company would decide how to best spend the money.

The Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce is the entity that administers the current tourism tax, which generates approximately $2.4 million a year.

This will be the second attempt for the tax, which fell to defeat in February 2002. This time around, the tourism board worked to have state legislation changed that would make the tax more appealing to voters. In addition to making the board more accountable to elected officials, the tax will also go almost entirely to tourism marketing, rather than other community programs.

The current board has five members, with two appointed by the Branson chamber, one by the Indian Point Chamber of Commerce, one by the city of Branson and one by the village of Indian Point. Two of the chamber appointees still have two years remaining on their three-year terms.

The board will now expand to seven members, with three appointed by the city of Branson, two by Indian Point, one by the Taney County Commission and one by the Stone County Commission.



One of the concerns with the transition process was maintaining a fair balance of members. Because of the way the legislation is worded, in 2007, Branson will end up with four of the seven board members, before dropping back to three in 2008, when the transition will be complete.

"The only way around that is if the city voluntarily surrenders an appointment for that year," Turner said.

Branson Communications Director Jerry Adams said it would be up to the city's Board of Aldermen to do that.

"The board of aldermen have not made a decision on appointments to the board," he said.




Story created Aug 12, 2005 - 09:46:00 CDT.