County reviews hotel/motel tax fund
source="8c76ae68f48763c7fb6d517e492ea384.jpg"
<p class="p1">A proposal is being considered to toughen guidelines which regulate Union County's hotel/motel tax. The proposal was discussed at last week's regular meeting of the Union County Board of Commissioners. The meeting was Friday morning at the Union County Courthouse in Jonesboro.</p><p class="p1">County officials have been reviewing the overall status of the hotel/motel tax during 2014. </p><p class="p1">The tax generates funds which are allocated to promote tourism in Union County and the southern tip of Illinois.</p><p class="p1">Union County Treasurer Darren Bailey presented a draft ordinance which is designed to update and strengthen guidelines governing the tax and the tourism promotion funding.</p><p class="p1">Bailey said the ordinance which he drafted "has a lot more teeth in it than we've had in the past." The treasurer said that he reviewed how other counties handle such levies when he was working on drafting the ordinance.</p><p class="p1">An existing county ordinance pertaining to the hotel/motel tax dates to the mid-1980s.</p><p class="p1">The county levies a 5 percent hotel/motel tax on establishments which provide accommodations. Two percent of the funds which are generated by the levy go to the county. Three percent of the funds go to the Southernmost Illinois Tourism Bureau.</p><p class="p1">The tax currently generates about $100,000 a year in revenue.</p><p class="p1">County officials said that about 40 lodging facilities currently pay into the hotel/motel tax fund.</p><p class="p1">Local hunting clubs are not among the lodging facilities which pay the tax. The draft ordinance would include hunting clubs. County commissioners Danny Hartline and Bobby Toler Jr. voiced concerns about including hunting clubs in the proposal.</p><p class="p1">The draft ordinance includes tougher enforcement guidelines regarding payment of the tax. The draft also calls for the establishment of a seven-member hotel operators occupancy tax board. The board would make recommendations to the county commissioners regarding the hotel/motel tax fund.</p><p class="p1">County commissioner Max Miller said that he liked the guidelines which were proposed by the treasurer. Miller said he wants "to make sure it has the teeth for enforcement."</p><p class="p1">Further discussion about the proposal is anticipated by the county commissioners.</p>