This is Floyd Wynne with THE VIEW FROM HERE (9-7-04)

It’s strange how well meaning ideas get twisted with time.

I’m referring to the room tax.

I note that the proposal is being presented to raise the local room tax from six to eight per cent.

Let’s go back to the 1980s when the room tax proposal was first put on the ballot and approved by the voters.

I was a member of the Board of Commissioners who put together the ordinance governing the dispersal of the room tax receipts.

We had a great deal of discussion about what the tax should do.

First, our consideration was that since it was the hotel and motel owners who would be collecting the tax on those who used their facilities, then a big share of the money should go to support tourism...or those who would use the hotel-motel facilities.

We had a pretty much run down Fairgrounds which was suffering from lack of funds. The exhibit building was an old structure and most of the buildings were run down. So first it was felt that a share of the receipts should go toward rebuilding the Fairgrounds since a lot of people then would attend events there and that would bring in people to use the hotels and motels.

Secondarily we felt that another sizeable share should go to promoting tourism. So funds were earmarked to go to the Chamber of Commerce to do just that.....promote tourism. Again...an effort to support the hotels and motels...as well as the community.

Since most of the hotels and motels, at the time, were within the city limits of Klamath Falls, it was felt that a share of the receipts should go to the cities....mostly Klamath Falls, but also other communities in the county that had motels and hotels.

The situation worked well for a few years. The museums were being adequately supported out of the county general fund and almost the total county share of the receipts went to the Fairgrounds with excellent results on the reconstruction there.

However a snag developed when one motel owner sued the county, maintaining it had no authority to give the money to the Chamber of Commerce for tourism promotion.

That resulted in the money being taken away from the Chamber and going back into the County funds.

Frankly, at the time we devised the distribution of the funds, we specifically did not want those funds to go into county hands, feeling it would become lost in other projects.

However, the county did use the funds for the museums and some form of tourism promotion.

Now....if we’re going to increase the room tax another two percent, it’s also time to realistically take a look at where those funds are being expended.

The fairgrounds now are well developed with the new event center and refurbished grandstand and other buildings in great shape.

Perhaps it’s time to put much more emphasis on real tourist promotion.

The recent hassle over who should get the county’s share of the tourism money resulted in a new group securing a portion of the funds rather than the Chamber of Commerce which normally handles promotion of the area.

I would like to see the Board of Commissioners set up a committee representing the various recipients of the tax as well as the hotel-motel owners who produce the tax....and conduct a complete review of how best the funds can benefit tourism.

I’ve always questioned the ruling that the Chamber was not eligible for these funds, and the recent contest whereby that share went to a private group belies that ruling. The county, obviously, can contract with such a group and so they could also have contracted with the Chamber.

At any rate, the proposal to raise the tax now merits a new study on how those funds are allocated.

This is Floyd Wynne and that’s THE VIEW FROM HERE.