Salida to vote on tourist fee for hotel rooms

Proposed $4.82 a night will go into recreation budget

By Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 12, 2008 at 7:57 p.m.

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Photo by Mark Wiard © Special to the Rocky

Salida's Recreation and Aquatic Center is called a top priority for the lodging-related funds if a proposed fee is OK'd by voters.

Salida will ask residents to vote this fall on a proposed tourist fee that would boost the cost of hotel rooms in the city by almost $5 a night.

Officials in the central Colorado town say the move would help shore up the budget for recreation and tourist attractions, but the local lodging industry worries about the impact on its ability to attract overnight visitors.

"We want to take the funds and put them back into recreation and have tourists stay a bit longer," said Mike Copp, interim administrator of Salida, which last week approved a ballot question on a flat nightly fee of $4.82.

Visitors already pay 8.8 percent on hotel rates in Salida, a combination of a 1.9 percent county lodging tax and an additional 6.9 percent in sales taxes.

Add a local lodging fee, one hotel owner said, and tourists could be paying a higher proportion of hotel taxes in Salida than they do in many other areas of the state.

"My experience is they (lodging taxes) have a negative impact," said Don Jackson, owner of the Super 8 motel in Salida. "I don't think that's the intention, but it may have unintended consequences."

The city of Salida can legally impose only a "fee" instead of a percentage tax on room rates. That means the fee translates into a 4.82 percent tax if a room costs $100.

But the Super 8's average nightly rate is roughly $80, Jackson said.

The lodging fee proposal is part of several measures that include a 1 percent increase in the sales tax and a 1 percent decrease in property taxes.

A top priority for the lodging-related funds that would be raised: fixing locker-room facilities at the state's largest indoor hot springs pool, a Depression-era project of the Works Progress Administration.

"We have this great pool, and it's a fabulous facility," said Trish Bews of Salida's Recreation and Aquatic Center. "But it's in need of work that the city doesn't have the money for."

Lodging taxes tend to find favor with voters, given that visitors pay for them and the local community gets the money.

In Denver, voters passed a lodging tax increase three years ago. In that case, hotel owners lobbied for it because the funds were earmarked specifically for marketing the city to potential visitors.

"Everybody's dialing for dollars, and citizens will usually vote NOT to tax themselves," said Ilene Kamsler, outgoing head of the Colorado Hotel & Lodging Association.

The city of Golden recently held off on plans to put a hotel tax on November's ballot. A proposed 7.9 percent lodging tax drew objections from local hoteliers and other businesses.

"We're not opposed to the concept; we're opposed to that amount and we want to be part of the planning," said Gary Wink, president of the Greater Golden Chamber of Commerce. "The idea is still very much alive, but it needs more research."

Wink noted that Golden has 480 hotel rooms, the majority of which get booked by corporate customers who pay close attention to how much taxes boost the base price of lodging. Imposing a big lodging tax in Golden could drive customers to the thousands of other rooms available nearby, Wink said.

A glance at the proposal

Salida's proposed local lodging fee

* At issue: Voters will decide in November whether hotel stays within city limits should be subject to a fee of $4.82 a night to raise money for the recreation budget. Because Salida lacks "home rule" status, it can impose a hotel "occupation fee" but not a conventional lodging tax.

* Where the money would go: Priority will be placed on renovating facilities at the historic municipal pool fed by hot water piped in from nearby Poncha Springs. Much of the main building was replaced after heavy snows caused its roof to buckle. But the central Colorado town has lacked the money to pay for major locker- room repairs and other fixes.

* How much visitors currently pay: Salida motel rooms are subject to a 1.9 percent county lodging tax that helps fund tourism marketing. Sales taxes add another 6.9 percent to the base price of a room.

• August 13, 2008

  9:02 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Art writes:

  Salida is one place that will be easy to avoid if they insist on adding this "fee" to the cost of staying there. Are they desparate to get rid of tourists?

• August 13, 2008

  9:31 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  roger44 writes:

  Stick them all you can Salida, they'll stay home. Why build a pool if you can't maintain it? Real smart. Don't see what's so special about Colorado anyway, Wyoming has great mountains, fewer illegals, cheaper gas prices. And for the most part, much more friendly and accommodating folks.

• August 13, 2008

  4:38 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Squatch writes:

  More of a reason to just "pass thru" Salida. While they are at it why dont they tax out of town cars more when they fuel up?

• August 14, 2008

  7:55 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  ponchadude writes:

  Ya know, tourists tend to eliminate the quality of life that some of us moved here for, if they stay away, the real estate whores that sell our lands for millions, pocket the profits and leave will themselves leave, This will eventually leave us with the land and life we moved here for. Not every resident values tourisim, actually, only those that stand to benefit from tourisim are proponents of it. You want to stay away for a measly $4.00. I say, fine, go somewhere else and leave us the @#$%^&*( ALONE !!!!!

  Try Summit County, soon to be annexed as a suburb of Denver.... You won't find much there in the way of taxes and fees.. Yeah, Keystone at 10.7% or so.. $140.00 for a round of golf. Yeah, you all head your happy as*es there and revel in the economic benefits of the area and leave us alone..

  Cynical, and damn tired of rude bicylicists, kayakers, tourists, morons that can't drive and texans in general..

• September 27, 2008

  2:30 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  mirabiledictu writes:

  As a statutory city, Salida's options for raising money are limited; an occupancy fee is one of several strategies being pursued to fund much-needed investment in infrastructure like the local hot springs pool, an amenity used by many visitors.

  Few locals are as surly as ponchadude, in my experience, and the vast majority of us appreciate the business that visitors bring to our town.

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