APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – The Appleton Common Council has voted to raise the hotel room tax to 10 percent during a special meeting Wednesday night.
Currently, Appleton’s room tax is 6 percent. Most of the new funding is slated to go toward a possible Fox Cities Exhibition Center. The cap for the cost of the new facility has been set at $29 million.
The rest of the new funding would go toward a new sports tourism fund.
But it’s just the first step in the process. Nine other municipalities will also have to raise the room taxes to the same rates. Those include Grand Chute, City of Menasha, Town of Menasha, Sherwood, Little Chute, City of Neenah, Town of Neenah, Kimberly and Kaukauna.
Here is a breakdown of that 10% rate:
- 3% goes to the Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau
- 2% goes to pay bonds on the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center
- 3% goes to fund bonds to pay for the construction of the Fox Cities Exhibition Center
- 1% goes to the municipalities
- 1% goes to Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau Tourism Development Fund, specifically for sports tourism.
The 2% for the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center is expected to be paid off in 2017. At that point that plan is to roll it into the Convention and Visitors Bureau’s sports tourism development fund.
Council members voted 13-1 to approve the raise.
“This is a first step, a first step of many, but it’s very positive. It’s a strong statement by our city council and that’s what we were looking for,” Mayor Tim Hanna told FOX 11, adding he hopes other municipalities will follow suit. “They are very supportive. They understand that we live in a regional economy and this is a good thing for all of us.”
The nine other municipalities have until November 30th to raise their room tax rates. That’s Appleton’s deadline to buy land for the exhibition center from Outagamie County.
(Additional reporting from FOX 11)
