The idea of a hotel occupancy tax (HOT) remains a hot topic in Kendall County, as witnessed July 22 in Commissioners Court.
Charlie Heuber, Greater Comfort Chamber of Commerce executive director, and Amy Story, Boerne Kendall County Economic Development Corporation, pitched the idea of implementation of a HOT, which would increase the bill of hotel guests by as much as 6%, in order to gather revenue for expansion of tourism needs in the county.
“Our goal is to equip the county businesses with the same tools that the businesses in the city of Boerne have,” Story told commissioners. “Right now, local businesses in Boerne all have the benefit of HOT tax, while businesses in the county do not.”
At a 2022 meeting held locally, business owners were looking for ways to drive traffic to Comfort to make these businesses succeed and grow. “HOT tax seemed like a natural discussion item at that point. We began to look at how to propel that idea forward,” Story said.
Hueber told commissioners of the plight of Comfort businesses, still reeling from the impact of Covid.
“We’re so dependent on tourism for our businesses. What we have right now is businesses are dying, people aren’t coming,” Hueber said. “We need new businesses to get people there, and we need people there to benefit the businesses. This spiral effect is happening.”
Without some outside source of funds, he said — “without some outside influence, we will continue to spiral down.”
John Kovacs, an 18-year Comfort resident and small-business owner, said he fully supports the HOT as a way to revive the city’s tourism that flourished prior to Covid.
“We all do our best to promote Comfort, to bring people in to help our local community. Then Covid hit and took Comfort out of the game,” he said. “We all have not recovered. We have not gotten the tourism back and the business we had.”
Bruce Tingle, who along with his wife Linda are partner owners of Hotel Giles on High Street, said, “We strongly support the occupancy tax.
“This is a little bit of a tough time for our beautiful little town. We feel it can be very important and an essential funding source to attract visitors to the area,’ Tingle said.
But opinion remains divided on the effects of HOT on businesses and consumers.
Paul Rushofsky, Tapatio Springs Hill Country Resort general manager, said the resort opposes the HOT.
“The lack of a HOT tax has allowed hotels in this county to remain competitive against San Antonio and other resort communities that do not currently have them in place,” Rushofsky said.
A HOT is not a fix, at all, to ignite economic development in a city and county, he said, calling it “far reaching” and saying it “doesn’t paint a complete picture.” He said the resort, and hotels and resorts nationwide, are seeing tightening in consumer confidence and spending.
“We should not be taking into consideration an additional tax or fee at a time when there’s heightened awareness around price transparency that will have a negative impact on our guests,” he added.
Kevin Welborn, managing director of Joshua Creek Ranch, said he opposes the HOT as well. Joshua Creek Ranch, along with Tapatio Springs, would become two of the larger HOT fund contributors.
“We feel like the timing is really off. We’ve had to increase costs ... while trying to grow at the same time,” Welborn said. “We feel our business right now couldn’t handle another increase passing on to our customers, in the climate we are in.”
Both Rushofsky and Welborn questioned the accountability, structure and spending habits of whatever body would be established to administer the fund.
HOT laws, Heuber explained, say accountability must fall to a government agency. If passed, the commissioner’s court would be the party to approve a budget every year, and how that money is spent.
“ The Boerne Visitors Center, for instance, reports directly to City Council, which is the government agency tasked with overseeing the fund and its uses,” Heuber said.
Commissioners would appoint a board, to serve as a link between the organization, county commissioners and the public. The commission would maintain authority through board appointment and annual approval of a visitor’s center budget.
But Heuber told the commissioners — who approached the HOT as a discussion item only with no action to be taken — success follows wherever HOT is implemented.
If you look at other places that have implemented it, do their numbers go down as a result? The answer is, no,” he said.
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