Columbia City Council meetings

By Temple Ligon

Hospitality Taxes

At a recent meeting of Richland County Council a destination-class water park, once costing $20 million and in the end, $18 million, was voted down. Near the confluence of I-77 and Hard Scrabble and Farrow roads, the county’s 200 acres targeted as a location for the water park has no firm alternative use. The water park was the focus of the use of the property.

The water park was to be funded by the county’s 2 percent hospitality tax on prepared foods. All told, the tax was expected to come to more than $6 million a year, which was adequate to service $13.5 million in bonds. Another $4.5 million was coming out of hospitality taxes to meet the $18 million project cost.

Meanwhile, back at city council, there was some debate over correct use of hospitality taxes, specifically for the arts advocacy office known as OneColumbia. On Tuesday afternoon at city council’s work session, city council decided to fork over $83,000 to OneColumbia out of its general fund budget. That should cover OneColumbia operations till the end of June.

According to The State’s Sarah Ellis, for its first five years of operation, OneColumbia has spent about $134,000 a year, or $670,000 total in hospitality taxes, practically all of OneColumbia’s budget. This fiscal year city council expects to collect $10.5 million in hospitality taxes.

In theory and now, finally, in practice, hospitality taxes are supposed to fund tourist attractions.

To clear the air, Jeff Palen, assistant city manager/chief financial officer, suggested a hospitality tax audit:

“…I recommend that the City hire an outside auditor for a consulting type engagement. For our purposes, this engagement can review the expenditures of all 75 organizations or a sample of the organizations that were funded by the hospitality tax during fiscal year 2015/2016 and these expenditures’ compliance with state law (Section 6-1-730), City legal opinion and City policy on the use of hospitality tax funds. During this review, if an expenditure needs additional clarification, this engagement will allow the auditor to review with finance or legal staff.”

Again in Ellis’s article councilman Howard Duval was quoted:

“I think it would be good for the public’s perception of the program if we had an outside auditor come in and look and report back to the council that things were going well or that there’s exceptions that need to be taken care of.”