HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-0303 Documents Submitted at Meeting
From Alice Hardesty
3-3-08
Ouestions about the TOT
· Did the consultant not have time to summarize the results? (Or was that done in
the Council Communication?)
· Was there an effort to solicit input from the Community in general? (See Council
memo of 9-17-07). If not, how are we going to do that?
· Need for research data on whether or not visitors decide to go to a destination
based on local taxes (p. 2 of Council Memo). Would the LOC have any
information on this?
· The table on Estimated Revenue Generated from a TOT Increase states that the
balance (remaining 30%) is likely to be used for Economic Development. I didn't
think that had been decided yet. What about police and fire?
· Is there any way to estimate how much tourists cost the City each year, for
example, for police, fire, streets, etc.?
· Topic: Why Generate New Money? Could there be a less costly way to create a
convention center or space (less than $4 million)?
· Option of purchasing land for additional parking. Shouldn't this wait for the
downtown plan?
Comments about the Fiscal Stability Goal
I agree that it would be a good idea to have this done by an outside consultant rather
than entirely in-house. I'm wondering about the possibility of engaging a contractor
to act as a project officer (or coordinator) to handle the contract and also participate in
the work. I'm also wondering about the possibility to combine this effort with an
economic development project. Although these are two separate projects, the same
person could have expertise in both and manage both contracts. To the extent that
this person could be heavily involved in both projects, the contracts could be less
expensive.
I'm assuming that although this project is estimated to take a year to complete, it
would not pre-empt our efforts to control the current budget to the best of our
collective abilities. Let me know if I'm wrong.