If what’s transpiring at the town hall-style meetings the past three weeks is any indication, Sequoyah County voters may be giving the green light to a proposed 4% countywide lodging tax.
The current iteration of the “only pay if you stay” lodging tax from those who rent short-term vacation properties is being widely embraced two years after overwhelming pushback by county residents kept the proposal off the ballot.
But this time around, even Mark Walters, who proudly proclaimed his opposition to taxes — any taxes — when the measure was being mulled in 2022, has done an about-face on the passage of the tax.
“Overall, I think it was a very good meeting,” District 3 Commissioner Jim Rogers said of the Jan. 21 meeting at the county fairgrounds, the first of three public forums prior to the February 11 election. “It was nice to have people there that were in opposition from the get-go, to hear their concerns and listen to them and just lay it all out there. The good thing about this: At the end of the day, we have an election.
“Mark (Walters) was there at the meeting. He’s good with the wording — it was just a little technical deal. Believe it or not, Mark thinks this could be a good thing,” Rogers told his fellow commissioners at their weekly meeting on Jan. 27.
The county held a second meeting on Jan. 27 in Vian, which Rogers viewed as “very positive,” and the final meeting before the election was Monday at the Muldrow Cherokee Community Center.
“It was interesting, to say the least,” Rogers said of the Jan. 21 meeting. “There was pretty good debate, and I was glad to see that, because I want to hear their concerns, I want to know what their concerns are. I think there’s such a misunderstanding.
“I think at the end of the day, there were maybe four there that was really in opposition of it,” Rogers recalled. “But by the end of the meeting, they came up and said they would be supportive of it now.
“It’s just educating them and making them understand we don’t want this to be a burden to anybody. We want it to be beneficial for everybody involved. It benefits the county as a whole, because they’re going to eat at our eateries, shop in our stores, and this and that.” The benefits
Upon approval by voters to assess the 4% lodging tax, the county, in general, and the county fairgrounds, in particular, will reap the benefits of a progressive and forward-thinking electorate.
Revenue from the lodging tax would not only infuse desperately needed funds into the fairgrounds facilities, but would also help prevent future tax burdens on county residents if the measure is defeated.
The commissioners have agreed that the allocation of the new tax receipts would be:
• 60% for the operation and maintenance of the county fairgrounds
• 30% for marketing and promotion of countywide tourism
• 10% for roadside beautification initiatives, trash and litter removal The fairgrounds would receive the largest piece of the funding pie, which Rogers says is desperately needed, because the fairgrounds board has “absolutely no funding to work with whatsoever.”
“They work on a shoestring budget,” Rogers says of the fair board. Without a funding source such as what the 4% lodging tax provides, maintenance costs at the fairgrounds could land “on the taxpayers’ back in a permanent way.”
Not only would the 60% allocation of receipts from the lodging tax provide much-needed maintenance, but Rogers believes it could be the beginnings of “great possibilities” for the facility.
“I know it would benefit us across the county — all the kids that participate in 4-H, FFA, livestock shows. But it’s not just 4-H and FFA, it’s a community building. Every constituent that lives in the county has the opportunity to go and lease that facility — for family reunions, birthdays, weddings, whatever they want to do,” Rogers explains.
The opposition
“I think some of the pushback on it online has been that [the money] is needed for roads instead,” Rogers explained. “There’s not enough there to benefit the roads. And that’s a challenge we face — Ray and I for the last 14 years, and Beau for the last five — is there’s never enough money for roads. But we make it work.
“We would love to have an unlimited budget. We’d love to go out here and overlay and pave everybody’s road. They would be happy and we’d be happy, everybody would be happy. But, unfortunately, that’s not the case. With what we have, we make it work, to the best of our ability,” Rogers said.
One of the biggest concerns, Rogers said, was Oklahoma tourism versus county tourism. Rogers explained at the meeting that advertising county activities and attractions is precisely for what 30% of the tax receipts are earmarked.
“Those are the things we’re trying to get done, that’s what we want to get done. If they don’t come and rent your airbnb,” he told those at the meeting, “the county doesn’t benefit from it. So we want them to come and rent your airbnb, your VRBOs. That’s what we’re pushing for. It will benefit you as much as it will the county.”
A portion of funds collected through lodging taxes are traditionally plowed back into efforts to promote tourism, which benefits lodging destinations as well as peripheral businesses such as gas stations, restaurants, boutiques and grocery stores, to name a few.
“Those are just some of the issues that were brought up. At the end of the night, I think that the four there that were kind of in opposition were pretty much on board at the end of the meeting,” Rogers said.
Alleviating concerns “We’re not trying to sneak this through. We’re trying to be open and as transparent about it as we can. We want them to understand how it works. We’re trying to maybe fix a situation that could become a permanent situation on the taxpayers’ back locally, and we’re trying to fix this so that never happens,” Rogers said.
“We’ve got people who come and stay in our airbnbs from outside the county — we’re going to promote our county — that will actually pick up the tab here. It’s the same as our sports complex out here. The city passed a 5% lodging tax on the hotels and motels here. That goes to fund that sports complex, and when ball season’s going on out there and that thing is packed, our sales tax increases those months. And that’s how it benefits your eateries and all that, because they’re spending money in your eateries, your stores.
“I think it’s a win-win for a county. But at the end of the day, the people get to decide that,” Rogers said.
“This is not a decision that your board makes. It’s a decision that the citizens of the county would make. All we can do is make the decision to put it on the ballot, then the citizens make the decision if they want to run with that or not,” Rogers said.
Rogers is confident, given enough assurances that the lodging tax will not be assessed to county residents and such a tax is only collected from those who stay at airbnbs or motels in the county where no municipality already assesses a lodging tax, that county residents will approve the “only pay if you stay” tax on February 11.
Rogers emphasizes whenever talking about the proposed tax that “it’s not a new tax on anybody, it’s only people coming from outside the area staying the night in our county.”
In other words, the 4% lodging tax will not be assessed to county taxpayers. It will only be collected from those who utilize lodging accommodations in the county — you only pay if you use it.
“We’ve just got to make sure everybody understands it’s not going to be a permanent tax on them,” Rogers repeats. “We’re probably one of the only counties that’s not collecting this.”
County Assessor Brandy Dobbs recently told the commissioners there are 67 airbnbs, VRBOs and RV parks in the county.
Twenty-two of those rental properties are in municipalities and would not be subject to the proposed county lodging tax.
The remaining 45 rentals throughout the county would be assessed the lodging tax.
“That’s still really good, because Cherokee County had 34 when they started theirs (lodging tax),” Rogers says, noting that Cherokee County’s lodging tax generated $135,000 in its initial year in 2022, an amount that swelled to $236,000 in 2023.
