issues candidate
Farragut Alderman Ron Williams, Town mayoral candiddate, makes points about tourism and his support of a Town Hotel/Motel Tax, which he voted to approve during Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting Thursday evening, April 26.
As most everyone knows, the Town does not receive any of the property tax collected by Knox County. These funds, as well as half of the sales tax collected in Farragut, support Knox County services, including the sheriff’s office and Knox County Schools. With just half of our sales tax, we build a budget that provides all Town services from roads to parks and everything in between.
The ordinance to establish a hotel tax, which passed on first reading last week, would create a dedicated funding mechanism for our tourism program. Only those that stay at one of the nine hotels located at the Campbell Station Road exit would pay this 2.5 percent tax.
We know that visitors have a choice about where to stay, and we hope that our tourism program will encourage more people to visit our hotels, restaurants and retail businesses. We have diverse attractions—from the Farragut Museum, sporting events on our fields, water recreation on our lakes to shopping at our Turkey Creek stores — and we look forward to devoting resources to entice visitors with these offerings. I believe that this endeavor will grow our share of the tourism business and encourage the smart growth of our Town.
According to a recent publication from the State of Tennessee, tourism is the state’s No. 2 industry. For the second year in a row, over a billion dollars in economic impact has been generated by tourism. The Tennessee Tourism ROI (Return on Investment) is $18 for every $1 spent compared to the national average of $9 for every $1 spent. These are pretty amazing statistics that should make Farragut sit up and take notice.
Last year, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen and administrative staff met to update the Town’s strategic plan with input from specialized consultants and Farragut residents. Tourism is one of the primary initiatives that came out of this process.
The first step was to recruit and hire a tourism coordinator to implement the Town’s marketing plan. The next was to establish a dedicated funding mechanism for tourism with the capital infrastructure investment to support it.
As most everyone knows, the Town does not receive any of the property tax collected by Knox County. These funds, as well as half of the sales tax collected in Farragut, support Knox County services, including the sheriff’s office and Knox County Schools. With just half of our sales tax, we build a budget that provides all Town services from roads to parks and everything in between.
The ordinance to establish a hotel tax, which passed on first reading last week, would create a dedicated funding mechanism for our tourism program. Only those that stay at one of the nine hotels located at the Campbell Station Road exit would pay this 2.5 percent tax.
We know that visitors have a choice about where to stay, and we hope that our tourism program will encourage more people to visit our hotels, restaurants and retail businesses.
We have diverse attractions—from the Farragut Museum, sporting events on our fields, water recreation on our lakes to shopping at our Turkey Creek stores—and we look forward to devoting resources to entice visitors with these offerings.
I believe that this endeavor will grow our share of the tourism business and encourage the smart growth of our Town.
