The fate of the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau beyond the end of the year may depend on whether Gov. Phil Bryant calls a special session of the Legislature.
On July 30, the CVB board will hold its retreat to adjust its budget to keep the organization operational through the end of December after the county’s 2-percent restaurant sales tax expired on June 30. The tax, which generated roughly $2 million for county tourism and economic development, is the CVB’s primary source of funding.
Both CVB director Nancy Carpenter and board president DeWitt Hicks said the viability of CVB beyond the end of the year is an unanswered question.
But a path has emerged that could restore the tax and provide funds for the CVB as early as January.
It rests on two things: Will the Governor call a special session? And if so, will he grant a request from Rep. Jeff Smith (R, Columbus) to add a new restaurant sales tax bill to the agenda for the special session?
On July 6, Bryant said he was considering calling a special session in August to address the state’s road/bridge infrastructure crisis, but he has not addressed the matter since then.
“I asked the governor to add the (restaurant bill) to the special session agenda three weeks ago,” Smith said Friday.
New tax would need referendum
Smith said if the Legislature approves the tax in special session, voters would have to approve the tax by a 60-percent margin.
If the legislation was “approved upon passage,” the tax could go into effect the day after the election results are certified, Smith said.
Lowndes County Circuit Clerk Teresa Barksdale said a referendum would require 45 days for absentee voting as prescribed by state code. That would mean the election could take place as early as late September, but she said it would be better to have the referendum on the Nov. 6 general election ballot.
“It would make more sense to have it in November,” Barksdale said. “It would cost as much as $5,000 to hold a separate election, but if it was added to the regular ballot on Nov. 6, there would be no additional cost.”
Because local taxes are administered on a three-month cycle, if that vote was held as a part of the Nov. 6 general election, the CVB could start receiving revenue from the tax in January.
Hicks said getting the tax approved in special session and approved by voters in November would be a best-case scenario.
“That situation would certainly be our best hope,” Hicks said. “I really don’t think the community understands how bad the loss of the 2-percent tax will be.”
In March, efforts to extend the county’s 2-percent restaurant sales tax, which had been in place since 1987 and renewed multiple times since then, failed over a dispute over whether all restaurants in the county should be required to collect the tax from customers.
In February, the county and city sent a joint resolution to the Legislature to remove the $325,000 floor on annual sales, which would have required all restaurants to collect the tax.
Rep. Smith refused to accept that change, re-inserting the $325,000 floor. When the bill went to conference committee, Sen. Chuck Younger, (R, Columbus) refused to agree to the change. The bill died in committee as the session ended and the tax expired June 30.
The CVB will receive its last revenue from the tax in August.
On April 23, the CVB board reached a compromise with Smith and Younger that called for a bill with a $100,000 floor to be submitted if a special session were called.
Both the city council and county board of supervisors approved the compromise.
Smith said Friday that there is no bill ready to submit to a special session, although there is a consensus on the $100,000 floor.
“We will (prepare a bill) as soon as the special session is official, which may be Aug. 15,” Smith said.
Hicks said the prospect of a county-wide vote on a restaurant tax is something that could have been avoided if the tax had been renewed during he regular session of the Legislature.
“It was a tragic turn of events,” Hicks said. “I am very concerned about a vote. I think it’s going to take a real informed judgment of the people if it’s going to pass.
“I wish it didn’t have to come down to an election, but appears to be where we are,” he added.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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