Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register
At a budget hearing Tuesday night, the local hotel association reiterated its opposition to the one-percentage-point increase in the city’s hotel tax proposed by Mayor Jim Langfelder. But, responding to questions from a couple of aldermen, a representative from the Springfield Hotel Lodging Association said the hotels might support a higher tax if the city did more with the money to attract tourists.
City officials touched on the tax hike and the mayor’s proposal to move the convention and visitors bureau to the former Museum of Surveying building on the Old Capitol Plaza during the discussion of the bureau’s spending plan for the fiscal year that starts March 1.
Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin defended raising the hotel tax from 6 percent to 7 percent, which would help fund Oak Ridge Cemetery.
“We’ve got something here in Springfield that no one else can offer, the history, state government,” McMenamin said. “I think the mayor is doing something very appropriate to try to keep our Oak Ridge just as strong as it can be.”
The increase, he pointed out, would add 80 cents to an $80 hotel bill, which likely wouldn’t dissuade visitors.
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Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 