A countywide lodging excise tax, the proceeds from which will go toward the Sequoyah County Fairgrounds, tourism marketing and roadside beautification, was approved Tuesday when almost 59% of voters threw their support behind the proposition.
“I think it’ll be a good thing for us. I don’t see how it can be bad,” District 3 Commissioner Jim Rogers said. “I’m excited about it. I think it will really make a difference.
“That’s the good thing about an election, everybody gets to vote and voice their opinion and majority wins. That’s the way it should be. I appreciate everybody that voted.”
Rogers expects collection of the tax to begin “pretty quickly.” The commissioners will submit paperwork to the Oklahoma Tax Commission, then the OTC will reach out to all airbnbs and other lodging properties in the county to set up collection of the excise tax, Rogers explained. He said the commissioners will seek direction from Cherokee County, which has done particularly well with its lodging tax. Cherokee County’s lodging tax generated $135,000 in its initial year in 2022, an amount that swelled to $236,000 in 2023.
The commissioners have agreed that the allocation of the new tax receipts will 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 All administration and enforcement of the tax will be the responsibility of the Oklahoma Tax Commission, and will not be the responsibility of Sequoyah County.
“It’ll be huge. It benefits in so many more ways than just the maintenance and operation of the fairgrounds,” Rogers said. “We bring all these folks in to visit our county, and they’re going to spend money at our eateries, stores. That’s people coming from outside our county spending money in our towns. It benefits us in so many different ways.”
Rogers said statewide marketing by the state tourism department “doesn’t compare with our tourism, because that’s statewide tourism. They’re going to hit on the bigger venues and things of that sort. Ours is going to focus on Sequoyah County. Our sole goal is to get people to come and stay in our constituents and our neighbors VRBOs and airbnbs, because it doesn’t benefit the county if they’re not. So we want to promote their venues and get them to come and stay in theirs.
“I think, at the end of the day, it’s going to be good for everybody. We wouldn’t have gone through the efforts of trying to throw this thing together and do that if I thought it wasn’t going to be a good thing.”
Results from Tuesday’s election are unofficial until certified today.
Propositions for the Braggs School District and the towns of Gore and Paradise Hill all passed easily.
Moffett Public School for Office 2 Virginia Gail Massey – 13 (65%) Sylvester Carolina – 7 (35%) Sarah F. Jones – 0 (0%)
