The PJS has an interesting story today and no, it’s not about prisoner spoons, though I do feel better now that they have more healthy eating utensils there at the jail. Nah, it’s the story on the HRA Taxes. Apparently, big wigs in town believe that by raising the HRA tax, we’ll get more people here. The pundit says no, he’s all aghast about this.
But the story has a good point. From the story:
“But not by much. A quarter-percent increase in the restaurant tax means a $100 restaurant bill goes up by 25 cents, hardly something that prevents people from patronizing a city eatery, Welch said.”
Is that really that much of a big deal? The tax hasn’t been raised, the story says, on restaurant and amusement components since 1976. That’s 31 years folks. Older than the civic center, old than the village of West Peoria and older than my socks which are pretty old. Honest, they are. I digress (which I can because it’s my blog). You know, I was doing a spell check and it turns out WordPress’ spell checker doesn’t know the word “blog.” How funny. Anyway…
To me, raising the tax rate with a guarantee that the money would go to promoting the city is a smart move. I have no problem at all with that. Peoria needs to market itself better and highlight the fact that there is a lot to do in this berg by the river that costs far less than Chicago or St. Louis. Imagine if they could get a sports package together and market that to families who want to take their kids to see games but don’t want to pay high prices.
What I don’t get is the rage that people have. A quarter cent is nothing. Who cares? If it raises money for the city, great. The people who are most hit by taxes like this are the people from out of town. Who better than to pay for our wonderful amenities. I disagree with C.J. Summers who thinks it’s a bad idea. He points to Springfield where hotel owners and managers say it’s going to kill business. Come on, are you telling me that raising a quarter of a cent is going to kill business. No, it’s going to hurt them because the hotels are going to charge far more than what was increased. Fine if they can do it and be successful.
The HRA wasn’t meant to be permanent but it is. TIFs weren’t supposed to be a development tool for the rich to exploit but they are. Life is about dealing with change, and for me, if the HRA tax can be used to drive more people here from out of town, spend their money and then help us develop more quality of life things, great.
Then again, maybe CJ’s right. Taxes are too high and maybe if they lowered it, spent money on things that mattered rather than silly things and were fiscally responsible, they wouldn’t need to raise the rate and could still accomplish all they want. Hmm, in that world, Peoria would have a subway.
City without a Subway 
[…] Evil Editor wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe PJS has an interesting story today and no, it’s not about prisoner spoons, though I do feel better now that they have more healthy eating utensils there at the jail. Nah, it’s the story on the HRA Taxes. Apparently, big wigs in town believe that by raising the HRA tax, we’ll get more people here. The pundit says no, he’s all aghast about this. But the story has a good point. From the story: “But not by much. A quarter-percent increase in the restaurant tax means a $100 restaurant bill goes up by 25 cents, hardly something that prevents people from patronizing a city eatery, Welch said.” […]
Well, of course this tax increase in and of itself is small. All taxes in and of themselves are small. The problem comes when they’re all combined. When they say that 25 cents more on a $100 bill is a negligible amount, that sounds great … until you realize that you’re already paying $10 in taxes. The tax on your $100 restaurant bill isn’t going to be 25 cents, but $10.25 altogether. How much higher do you want it to go? Where does it stop?
And like I said on my blog, the HRA tax should have gone away completely, but the Civic Center instead spent $55 million to expand the Civic Center so we could attract more convention business, and they’re paying for it by extending the HRA tax for another 20-30 years. Now we’re supposed to throw good money after bad?
From what I see in the rate, according to the paper, the restaurant portion is only 2 percent. The hotel is 5.5 or something like that and the amusement is 2 percent. So is it already 10 dollars or is it only two dollars on restaurants? And I am not talking about Bennigans at a hotel or the Civic Center concession stands.
Look, I am all for getting rid of taxes. I could use the extra money but the reality is that the HRA isn’t going away. Philosophical debates such as that are fun but, in my opinion, don’t reflect the reality of the world. TIFs are not supposed to be a tool that developers use to hold a city hostage. Hmm, sort of turned out that way.
Peoria needs to brand itself. Peoria needs to do something to stem the tide of flight from the city and increase civic pride. Schools are tops on the list but that’s going to take 20 years or more to really improve them. Bringing tourists into the city, creating a city that has everything the big boys do but smaller and cheaper could be a way to bring more money into the city coffers. Do that and we might see a better quality of life. Improve that and people might stand up against crime and bad schools.
It coudl be a domino. Of course, it could also flop as well. Look at the Platiform on the riverfront. But is it worth a try, probably.