Willmoth, Fulkerson, Bishop, Lewis, Thomas to Impose Restaurant Tax
Elizabethtown, KY--April 17, 2007
It became clear at the April 16, 2007 Elizabethtown City Council meeting that--with the support of Mayor David Willmoth, Jr.--Councilmen Marty Fulkerson, Tony Bishop, Kenny Lewis and Ron Thomas will vote 4-2 to impose a 2% restaurant-meal tax on the citizens of Elizabethtown. The tax will also be imposed on anyone else who eats in an Elizabethtown restaurant.
There is one thing you can do to try and stop this tax. But you must do it right now. Call Ron Thomas at 737-7090 and Kenny Lewis at 737-1839 right now to register your opposition to the tax. Perhaps they will reconsider if they receive enough calls in opposition to the tax.
Willmoth, Fulkerson, and Bishop have been advocates of a restaurant tax since at least 2005, when the tax was first proposed by the Elizabethtown Tourism and Convention Bureau (ETCB) as a vehicle to finance the construction and operation of a risky convention center. That effort failed due to immense public opposition.
Last year the ETCB proposed the tax again, saying they wanted to use it to finance the installation of new recreational facilities in Elizabethtown.
But with the council in the process of passing a 69% increase in the occupational tax at that time, there was reluctance on the part of the majority of the council--which then included staunch anti-tax member Edna Berger--to pass the restaurant tax. Part of that reluctance was due to the ETCB's unwillingness to state categorically that it would not come back later to use the tax for the convention center idea as well. The ETCB has still not made that assurance.
With Berger's retirement from the city council, the election of Kenny Lewis to the council, and Ron Thomas' switch from a no vote to a yes vote, there are now four votes for the tax at the 2% rate. Many think Thomas is planning to run for mayor in the future, and that his new position supporting the tax is an appeal for the votes of soccer moms and others interested in accelerating the new recreational facilities.
This time the ETCB proposes using the tax to pay the debt service on an $18 million dollar bond. They propose using the bond money to accelerate the installation of new recreational facilities that are already budgeted within existing revenue sources. The ETCB also proposes using some of the money to complete the restoration of the bogged-down Historic State Theater restoration project. With interest, the bond will cost Elizabethtown taxpayers $31.5 million dollars over the twenty-five repayment term.
As usual, Willmoth has avoided having to vote on the tax, just as he was able to eventually avoid a vote on the occupational tax increase last year; after declining to break a tie on the first vote on that matter, saying it was "the council's responsibility".
Councilmen Tim Walker and Willie Wood have remained staunch in their opposition to the restaurant tax, and are to be commended for standing up for local taxpayers; who already pay four months of their earnings in federal, state, and local taxes.
The new tax comes at a time when gasoline is approaching $3.00 a gallon, the cost of health care continues to spiral out of control, the city occupational tax was just increased by 69% last year , and the county school board raised its taxes last year as well.
The restaurant tax will collect at least $1.68 million dollars a year (at today's restaurant prices), according to city budget office calculations. With 77% of that money coming out of local diners (according to National Restaurant Association statistics), that means local families will see $1.29 million dollars taken out of their collective pocket annually. Both numbers will rise as restaurant prices increase each year.
Individually, each local family will see thousands of dollars disappear from their net income over the next twenty-five years. The local economy will lose at least $32 million (at today's restaurant prices) over the next twenty-five years; money that will not only be missed by the families who pay the taxes, but by local businesses as well. Once a dollar is taken in taxes, it is not available to a family to save or spend anywhere else.
It is unfortunate state laws do not allow citizens of a community to vote on whether they want to enact a new tax or not. Basically, four people are using their power to remove a significant amount of money from the local economy, and from the household budget of every local family that eats in Elizabethtown restaurants.
It will be important for the voters of Elizabethtown to remember that Willmoth, Fulkerson, Bishop, Lewis, and Thomas enacted this tax when they run for re-election.
