DON'T TRUST CONVENTION CENTER TO LIVE UP TO PROMISES - Vote 'No' on Hotel Tax
Artist's rendering of the proposed convention center. Photo provided by the City of Springfield.
as published in The Springfield Daily Citizen
When we first voted on a lodging tax increase to fund a new convention center, I was not convinced. Was this really the top priority for Springfield, with a poverty rate of 18% and more than 600 people homeless?
But these questions are exactly what public votes exist to decide, so while my vote was “no,” if most of my neighbors supported the plan, I was willing to accept it.
It seems that our city government isn’t quite as ready as I was to accept the will of the people.
Now, five months after we voted on this tax for the first time, it’s back on the ballot again. Very little about the plan has changed. City officials have been up front about the fact that this is not really a brand-new proposal; it’s the same question with a more extensive public education program.
That’s not acceptable. Yes, turnout for November’s election was unusually low even for a single-question municipal issue, but that is not reason enough to bring it back at the very next election. We see enough revolving-door issues like this at the state level, and the effect is clear: ignoring the will of the people and forcing vote after vote on the same thing just erodes public confidence in our government. Is a shiny new convention center and promises of future economic growth really worth paying for with public trust as well as public funds?
Local, state public funds help fund project
And this plan does include public funds. Visit Springfield president Mark Hecquet has claimed in several meetings I attended that only tourists will pay for this convention center. But that’s false. In addition to the tax we’re voting on and potential state funding, the city’s plan also includes $30 million from the Spring Forward sales tax — in other words, for one year, that’s the entire half cent from that tax, which voters approved to fund “comprehensive plan initiatives.” That’s money that Springfield voters like me pay just by living our lives in this city. Despite Hecquet’s claims, we’re funding the project, too.
That’s not the only reason voters like me don’t trust this proposal. Convention center proponents claim it will bring in 80,000 hotel room nights each year, yet comparable facilities in St. Charles and Overland Park yield less than half that number. Overland Park — despite access to a larger airport and bigger metro area — is so desperate for convention center traffic that they have to offer extra incentives to bring in events. With our direct competitors already struggling to meet numbers far less than Springfield’s goals, how can voters believe that Springfield’s convention center will produce the economic benefits we’re told justify the expense of building it?
Center won’t solve Springfield’s problems
The people of Springfield have been very clear all along: we don’t trust the convention center to live up to its promises and we don’t want this new tax pushing it forward. That’s what we said at the ballot box in November. That’s what we told the city in their feedback survey after the election. And that’s what I heard at the Town Halls hosted by many of our city council members. I have heard from tenants and homeowners, from Republicans and Democrats and Democratic Socialists, from college students and retired people and everyone in between, and across all their differences these folks agree on one thing: a new convention center won’t solve Springfield’s problems.
It’s not too late to follow the will of the people.
I will be voting “no” on the convention center tax again this April 7 and I am urging my friends, family, and neighbors to do so as well. I’m voting no because I’m still not convinced that this plan will deliver on its economic promises. I’m voting no because the city still hasn’t been transparent about the project and its funding. But most of all, I’m voting no because none of us should have to vote on this again at all when we’ve already voted once.
Together, we can make sure that this time, the will of the people is heard loud and clear.