Columbus has not yet responded

POLK COUNTY – The Polk County Board of Commissioners recently received responses from the City of Saluda and Town of Tryon on their willingness to move forward with joining a newly established Tourism Development Authority (TDA), which would mean more occupancy tax for both the county and its towns.

 

County commissioners met Nov. 6 and heard from county manager Marche Pittman, who reviewed the responses and said the county has not heard back from the Town of Columbus. The county had given the towns until Oct. 1 to respond whether or not they were interested in joining the TDA.

 

The county has been discussing creating a TDA since July when commissioners sat down with the economic tourism development commission (ETDC) about creating a TDA.

 

If the TDA is created, which will have to be approved by state legislation, the county will be able to collect six percent of occupancy tax in the unincorporated areas of the county, instead of its current three percent. The TDA would have to collect all the occupancy tax within the county as well as in the towns that choose to join. The county is offering the towns to receive five percent of the total six percent within the town limits, instead of the three percent the towns currently receive. Currently, the towns receive three percent occupancy tax and the county receives three percent within the towns.

 

The county will have to petition the state for a local bill to collect more occupancy tax and to form a TDA.

 

The towns joining would have to rescind their own ordinances to allow the county’s TDA to collect six percent across the entire county. The county and towns participating will approve inter-local agreements that will spell out how the monies are dispersed to the towns.

 

Pittman told commissioners last week in conversations he had with Tryon and Saluda, both were interested in a five percent distribution for the towns as well as the money being a pass through to a local entity to determine how the occupancy tax will be spent for the towns.

 

“We are working on that inter-local agreement now and we should have it to present back to the board of commissioners in the next couple of meetings,” Pittman said. “Once it’s presented to you, staff will take it to the individual towns for their input. I wish we had some comments from Columbus, but so far, we haven’t gotten that.”

 

Pittman said Columbus officials were at the same meetings with Tryon and Saluda and Columbus did not express any problems with the county pursuing the TDA, but so far, Pittman hasn’t received anything in writing.

 

Commissioners have discussed holding a joint meeting with the town councils of the towns that are interested in joining the TDA.

 

The next state legislation to consider any bills won’t be until spring 2018.

 

Following are the letters Pittman received from the Town of Tryon and City of Saluda:

 

Tryon:

I am writing this letter to inform you of the Town of Tryon’s stance on Polk County and its aspirations to create a tourism development authority. The Tryon Board of Commissioners understands your willingness to create a TDA and appreciates your open approach to bring us into the conversation. Tryon believes this can be a positive change not only for the Town of Tryon but also for Polk County as a whole.

 

We have spent the past month discussing the pros and cons of this venture. During those meetings, we decided that we would be willing to enter talks with Polk County to discuss the opportunity. The board is in favor of beginning negotiations to draft an interlocal agreement given certain key ideas are in place.

 

The Tryon Board of Commissioners would like to see that they receive the five percent tax discussed in previous meetings. The Tryon board would also like to ensure that they could retain some form of a committee that has authority to decide where Tryon’s portion of money is spent. The Tryon board would also ask that they have at least one seat as representation on the new board that oversees this new TDA.

 

If you have any questions regarding the board’s support for this project or requests regarding the interlocal agreement, please feel free to contact me at any time. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

–J. Alan Peoples, Mayor, Town of Tryon, NC

 

Saluda:

In its September meeting, the City of Saluda Board of Commissioners discussed the concept idea brought forth by Polk County. The board of commissioners understands that Polk County would like to update its local occupancy tax legislation.

 

The board understands that Polk County is interested in working with the local municipalities by providing collection services and a TDA board both for the county and the municipalities. The City of Saluda Board of Commissioners is interested in this concept and is willing to continue discussing this concept with Polk County.

 

Saluda would like to see further details on the proposal by the county before making a commitment and entering into an agreement with the county.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

Sincerely,

–Jonathan Cannon, city manager