(Spirit Lake)– The Dickinson County Board of Supervisors today (Tues.) adopted a revision in the county’s Lodging Tax ordinance that pertains to the amount of revenue going to the Okoboji Tourism Committee. It stems from additional revenue generated by VRBO’s and other vacation rental properties. The revision will result in the funds going to the county, effectively doing away with the previous allocation that had 50 percent of the overall revenue going to tourism. The county instead will decide annually how much to allocate to the tourism committee. Bridget Johnson, who owns Oakwood Inn, is a member of the Okoboji Tourism Committee. She argued against the county making the move…
“I really would rather not see a cap of anything. I of course want to see the 50-50 partnership remain. I understand you all have decisions you have to make. But I think that it would be a disservice to the tourism industry of the Iowa Great Lakes not to continue our partnership.”
Supervisor Jeff Thee said he wants to see more accountability on the Okoboji Tourism committee, saying each city that has the lodging tax in place should have a seat at the table…
“I would love to say it’s all because of the magazine and the marketing efforts, but it’s not. There’s a lot of things. Every business, every resort, every entertainment complex, bring people to Okoboji. And there’s things we can do whether it’s for clean water, it’s helping with a new facility, whatever it may be there’s things with these extra dollars we can partner in another way with Okoboji Tourism, again for the tourism of Okoboji. We’re all in this together. And this is not a slap in the face or an indication of disapproval of the way things have been done. They’ve been done very well with the monies you’ve been getting. But when you ask for over three times of that just because it’s there, and we don’t know what was spent, we know what was spent last year but are you in dire straights? Can the magazine not be produced next year or pay staff because there’s not enough money? Then that’s another conversation. No idea on this part, of where things sit.”
Fellow supervisor Tim Fairchild added that with the change, Okoboji Tourism could ultimately see more funding…
“When you make a case like I’m sure you’re capable of, there’s no longer a 50 percent limit. You could, if you could successfully argue, you could get 100 percent of that money instead of 50 percent. I think that all these questions are, they’re well based questions and moving forward I think this is an opportunity to actually put together a more dynamic force. The synergies that can be gained with everybody coming together on this are a force to reckon with I think.”
The vote by the supervisors to approve the revision was five to nothing.
