On Second Thought (some further thoughts about this matter of a room tax)

We're all in this together

 "We must all hang together or most assuredly we will all hang separately"

- Benjamin Franklin, reportedly after placing his signature on the Declaration of Independence

If you read the front page of last week's Chetek Alert then you know that after indicating at January's council meeting that the City would vote upon the issue of a room tax at this month's meeting, we've called an audible and decided to table the matter for the time being. What gives?

Last week's front page of The Chetek Alert

Honestly, a month ago I was for the thing. Based on the literature I had read it seemed to me a “no-brainer”. Every year our city swells during the summer months with the influx of out-of-town guests. Why not consider a small “user-fee” if only to help “spread the love” of what our corner of the county has to offer? If Barron, with only two hotels, can pass a room tax what is stopping us from doing the same? Besides, would people really stop coming back to our area because of the addition of, say, a 5% room tax? Personally, I looked at the passage of a room tax as initiating a pilot program of a kind that perhaps later – after it was proven successful – the townships would want in on. These were the sum of my thoughts at the time.

But since then I've received a bit of an education of sorts courtesy of several of the resort owners in and out of town that has caused me to reconsider my opinion. And while processing all that each of them have had to say about the matter and gaining a little better understanding of the nature of their business my statements I made at last month's council meeting were, at the very least, naive. At worst, they reveal that I didn't know what I was talking about. So I'm grateful for the schooling I've since undergone thanks to people like Rick Puritin (Shorewood Resort), Dave Howes (Outers Resort), Carl Kuester (Grand View Lodge) and Jane Thurston (Oak Grove Resort and the President of the Chetek Resort Owners Association).

Andy Schommer of Big Catch Fishing Expedition

The long and short of it as I now understand the matter is that there's a big difference between running a hotel and running a resort. Both involve lodging. Both have reputations to uphold for cleanliness and service. Both hope my stay with them is an enjoyable experience. But after that the differences begin to mount significantly to the bottom line. Mainly, if I'm someone on my way through and just need a place for the night or weekend, I'm probably not seeking a rapport with, say, Ron Hartl of the Chain of Lakes Motel (nice guy though he is, however). I may not even catch his name. I just need a comfortable bed and a place to shower. Cable is a nice amenity, too. But if I'm coming to Chetek to spend a week on the lake fishing and maybe play a round of golf at Sioux Creek Golf Course for a change-up and you're Rick or Dave, they're seeking to build a relationship with me because if I have a great time, I may just come back next year...and the year after that and the year after that. A $5 extra charge at America's Best Value Inn for a night's stay I'm going to pay without batting an eye. But a $50 extra charge for a week's stay may give me pause especially if across the lake I can stay at Crimson Hue Resort (which resides in the Town of Chetek) for $50 less.

Yeah, not us

Let me state the obvious: we are not the Dells (even though the population on the green sign outside of their town is just a few hundred more than ours). A room tax in the Wisconsin Dells-Lake Delton community is a no-brainer. Hundreds of thousands of tourists descend upon that area every year and frequent the many hotels, inns, B&Bs and the like that can be found there. All of us who go there pay the 8% room tax as part of the price of admission to our Dells' experience. Clearly, people don't come to the Chain for our theme parks or to play on our gigantic water slides. They come to get away from whatever rat race they hail from and enjoy a week on the lake and the comparatively serene ambiance of our neck of the woods. And catch a lot of fish if they can.

We don't got one of those either

We are not Hayward, either (even though their town is as big as ours), who experience the influx of lots of fat cats from Minnesota (or so I'm told). People don't come to the Chain to bag trophy fish or slay Muskies (although if they can land a $50 tagged crappie that would be a sweet award).

These are shallow lakes we live around that teem with pan fish, bass, walleye and northern and our resorts cater to the folks who are looking for that kind of action out on our waters.

If we pass a room tax for the city alone who can blame the three resorts in town (Outers, Grandview and Shorewood) for calling “foul” when there are plenty of other resorts in the surrounding townships who stand to gain by their mandatory rate increase. It's not a level playing field.

And then there's the fair question: What are we going to do with the money we collect? By rule, if we were to pass a room tax, 30% collected would go to the city and 70% would have to be spent on promoting increased tourism to our area. Every resorter I spoke with was emphatic about NOT needing more money for advertising. “We don't need another website!” (that's a direct quote from one of them). Besides, how do you promote just Chetek and not the surrounding area? It's pretty clear that if we don't have a project in mind – for example, a splash pad or a community swimming pool or some other "thing" that would enhance the Chetek experience for your typical out-of-towner – I don't think we have a prayer of getting the resorters to ever be in favor of signing off on such a thing.

It sounds like something he would have said

On July 2, 1776, 55 men signed the Declaration of Independence (the final copy was not officially posted until July 4). After placing his signature upon the document Benjamin Franklin reportedly said, “We must all hang together or we most certainly will hang separately.” While there is some small debate as to whether he actually said that it certainly captures the reality of the cause of the 13 colonies. Either work together for the greater good or be picked off one by one by the might of Great Britain. Although the stakes are not as dire as they were in 1776, I think all of us who live in the southeast corner of Barron County should have the same mindset with regards to the economics of our area to say nothing of the overall health of the Chain. The city and the surrounding townships need to see ourselves almost joined at the hip in addressing issues like promoting tourism and keeping people coming back to the lake year after year.

This may be overstating it a bit but we need to see that we're all in this together

So, we're going to wait. We're going to wait until all the resorters are back from their winter getaways so that together with them and with the surrounding township boards see if we can find a way forward. First Ward Alderman Scott Bachowski, who initiated this most recent discussion on a room tax (I have it on good authority that this isn't the first time it's been kicked around) is in favor of waiting, too. So is the rest of the council. We all feel that if there's a chance of coming to some shared consensus on where we can work together for the betterment of us all than its well worth the wait to hopefully get it right rather than rush to judgment and trod where even angels fear to tread.