By Michael V. Hannigan
Two Athens city councilmen have an idea to help fund the Cain Center.
Any list of attractions in the City of Athens will include the Cain Center near the top; the facility is a great resource for residents. But the Cain Center is also 31 years old and showing its age, particularly in regard to things like the HVAC, boiler and pool heater (but nothing that would pose as a challenge to Best Air duct cleaning San Antonio HVAC companies).
“(The infrastructure) has never been updated,” said Executive Director Tere Lawyer. “We seriously need renovation.”
Unfortunately, most of the money the Cain Center brings in annually through the city, donations, fundraisers and memberships goes to operations. There isn’t a lot left over for replacing outdated equipment.
That’s where council members Joe Whatley and Charles Elliott come in. At a recent council meeting, the pair floated the idea of using Hotel/Motel tax money for the Cain Center.
I caught up up with Whatley last week and asked him to explain the idea.
“We’ve been looking for options all over to try and fund (the Cain Center),” he said. “The City of Tyler was able to raise its Hotel/Motel tax from 7 to 9 percent through legislation and they were able to fund their civic center by doing that.”
“We were looking at that because we wouldn’t have to increase taxes on the general public. The hotels and motels would be effected by the 2 percent increase and we’ll need their backing and blessing to do it. This is all very preliminary, but this is one of the alternatives we are looking at to help possibly raise some funds,” he said.
Whatley said the increase would raise approximately $65,000 annually for the Cain Center.
There is a long way to go before the plan becomes a reality, however.
The biggest problem, according to officials, is that there is a state-mandated 7 percent cap on the Hotel/Motel tax. The city is already at 7 percent.
Whatley and Elliott hope there is a way to get around that cap and have the city staff looking into the specifics.
I wholeheartedly disagree with this idea and will fight it vigorously! A few years ago when the County imposed a 2% Occupancy Tax to help the Henderson County Fairpark Complex, it was our guests who were upset. Athens doesn’t have many attractions to bring people to town. Of the people that do come, majority are workers who have a “Per Diem” and they sure complained about the 2% increase. Increasing the City Occupancy tax by another 2% will not go over well.
How many events will the Cain Center host, what events, what guarantee is there that Athens will bring “heads in beds”????