We urge Selma City Council to vote in favor of new fees

Published 9:06pm Saturday, January 19, 2013
Comments

Discussion of the proposed lodging fee, or occupancy fee that has been discussed at length in the past several months is up for an increase. An increase would go to help financially stabilize and support both the YMCA of Selma and the Brown YMCA.accurate

The Selma City Council had previously placed a proposal of a $1.50 lodging fee increase on all Selma city hotels, which would in turn benefit the Y. If this ordinance passes, the Y would be that much closer to keeping its doors open and continuing its quality service to the people of Selma and Dallas County.

The fee increase, which would be enforced on a per-night, per room basis, would go directly to the city of Selma and the city would then give all of the revenue to the Y through a contract for community development. This tax could potentially bring in an estimated $188,000 for the Y a year. That amount could be just the ticket the Y needs to stay afloat.

“I know a lot of hotel owners in here have expressed a grave concern about the Brown YMCA and we are going to add 50 cents on to support the Brown YMCA for a total of $2,” council president Corey Bowie said in the Selma Administrative Committee meeting Friday. “Then $1.50 would go towards the Walker-Johnson facility and 50 cents would go towards the YMCA.”

In a previous work session Evans announced to the council he believed it would take about $300,000 to bring the Brown YMCA up to shape and open it up again. However the concerns from the hotel owners and managers did not seem to stem from concern about helping the Brown YMCA in the committee meeting. Hotel workers expressed they felt the fee was simply unfair.

We feel as though adding 50 cents, making it an even $2 per night per room will be hugely beneficial to our city in supporting both the YMCA of Selma and the Brown Y.

This is an increase that does not hurt the residents of Selma. It is not a fee you will ever even see unless you stay at a hotel in town. By adding these fees we feel Selma will stay competitive with surrounding area hotels.

The council will vote on the occupancy fee Tuesday, and we urge the Selma City Council to vote in favor of the additional lodging fee.

Following the vote if it were to pass, there would be another document in discussion, a contract for the ordinance between the city and the YMCA, which would need to be voted on at a later date.

We think this is something our city needs and $2 from every out-of-town, overnight guest could turn the state of these two facilities around, especially with the future of the Y being in limbo.

We thank our council members for thinking proactively and brainstorming ideas to keep this vital facility a key player in our community.

 

Comments
  • popdukes12

    ” the Y would be that much closer to keeping its doors open” Sorry, I don’t read this opinion into the proposal. $1 million dollars was due the 1st of January to not default on a loan they have. According to the paper, that didn’t happen. The $15,500 the “Y” should get monthly from the new tax might cover the interest on that loan, but would do very little to reduce or eliminate a loan of that size in the time period the city is “selling” that the proposed ordinance would be in effect . Unless the “Y” has a 0% interest loan. Next, the current cash flow vs. operational expenses of the “Y” hasn’t been discussed (at least in an open forum) . This would also show if this extra infusion of cash would “save” their current situation. Wouldn’t you think the city would want to look at the current profit and loss statement to see if they were just throwing money at a sinking ship. I really can’t think of a person in Selma I would trust more than Bill Porter, but I have yet to hear him say that the new money would: 1) fix the million dollar loan situation, and 2) that the extra money would allow the “Y” to stay open, given it’s current operational costs. You (the person writing this article) say it would get them “closer”, but we (the reader) haven’t seen anything to back up that opinion, to any appreciable degree. It is stated in the article that $300,000 is needed to be given to the Brown “Y” to “open it up again”. The Brown “Y” will be getting about $4,000 a month. At that rate, it would take about six years to open it up. Does that sound practical, or another situation where the city will have to “farm out” another one of it’s functions (like the garbage service) or increase the sales tax another half percent (like it is doing so it can pay for the police department) just to support additional physical/social activities for the city. They are already spending three-quarters of a million dollars on the recreation department every year. That alone is about $3.00 per month for every man, woman, and child in the city.
    Less services, more sales taxes, more lodging tax, more debt than the city has ever seen before, when will the city learn to live within it’s revenue stream? My opinion would be to take money out of the Recreation Dept. if the activities at the “Y” are the type of activities desired by the citizens of Selma rather than adding a new tax. You are basically moving money that can employ housekeepers and laundry people and shifting it to fitness instructors, and life guards. Read into that what you wish. pops

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