Why should the visitors to King's Island pay the equivalent of an additional sales tax unless some kind of a TIF is put in place that requires the additional tax to fund specific infrastructure improvements to support King's Island? TIFs usually also have a sunset date that should become effective when the tax collected has offset the costs (including maintenance for x number of years).
My concern is the council is looking to use the park to fund some shortfall - but experience with cities show they're just as likely to give a tax break to a new industry moving in town even though that also will cost infrastructure improvements. (Not saying Mason has done the latter.) Assuming the existing sales tax applies, they're already getting sales tax from 3 million people spending money in their town. And if the current sales tax doesn't apply - that certainly should be remedied.
Economic times are bad though for many cities, which means less tax revenue. When that happens, it's really easy for the city to try and ring the local cash register (Kings Island in this case) and take more money. If half of the money they would collect from this increase were used for anything remotely related to Kings Island, I would be surprised. Call me cynical about government, but I'm pretty sure they won't hesitate for a second to "redirect" the money away from what it's supposed to be for. Perhaps they should also remember the effect that the park has on the local economy as well. All of those hotels are built there for a reason, and they fill up during the summer (and pay more room tax) for a reason. Restaurants and gas stations see more business too. Thousands of jobs are created each season, and I'm sure that Kings Island does it's share of charitable work.
Kings Island Drive is in good shape, as are the interchanges from I71 and the overpass of I71. The local roads in Mason (that only locals would use to get there) may be taking a hit, but one could argue that the slow moving, seemingly endless Cincinatti rush hour is just as responsible...if not more so than Kings Island traffic. Park attendance hasn't increased or decreased much at all...remaining around 3 million for a long time now. That said, there is likely a slight cost increase to repair and fix things, but what are they going to fix? People complain about parking prices all the time. Most of the time they are raised because of things like this.
My outside opinion, the city government doesn't need the money, they want it... so that they don't have to make cuts to anything, when they are probably overspending and/or wasting. Mason is a fairly affluent community with plenty of business happening.
Any ideas?
The headline just reminded me of admission to Six Flags
As for KI not bringing anything else to the community since people spend money in the park, that is not true at all. The park creates jobs, visitors that need places to stay, taxes from gas, snacks, soda, restaurants (some people do dine outside the parks) as well as others. Having a major attraction like a theme park can also influence other businesses to the area. They are more likely to be able to recruit talented people that want to work in an area where there are things to do. Amusement parks do add much more to an area than many people think.
The thing with Kings Island is that I doubt too many people will be visiting more than one or two days in a row, which means the demand for hotel rooms is likely to be minimal.
From there, it's arithmetic to figure out whose rates need to be adjusted. It just drives me a little nuts when politicians initiate these discussions without showing us the math (that their staff members can and should be doing), and news media report on them without looking at or passing along the numbers, either.
Without numbers, these debates get reduced to moronic "taxes r BAD" versus "business r BAD" debates. Yuck.
There are other big industries in Mason surely getting tax breaks (Cintas, perhaps). They bring in tons of employees, but do not bring people in to hotels, restaurants, etc.
The City council can do what they want I suppose, but I believe it is self-serving and in the long run will hurt more than it helps. If I am not mistaken, previous councils "promised" they wouldn't impose a tax like this when they annexed KI into Mason. Politians....
Cedar Fair can't/won't necessarily take the $2.4 million hit either considering there is a $30 million coaster going unused. So they might have to pass this along to the consumers.
I'm trying to reach the KI spokesman for comment.
It sounds like a reasonable policy, I just think it's the wrong time to implement it.
Attendance is down this year all across the world and it's most likely to stay low for a large part of 2009. That means Kings Island aren't going to want to charge customers any more because of a new tax put in place. My guess would be that Cedar Fair will absorb the increase in taxation rather than pass it onto the consumers, at least for the time being. In the future we may see prices increase over and above the rate of inflation in order to cover the tax, but I doubt that will happen in the near future.
My main question would be what impact will this have at Kings Island? Will this mean that we may see staff lay-off's? Surely the local council won't implement a tax if they know it's going to lead to an increase in unemployment?
Taxation is naturally a big issue with regards to the amusement park industry, whilst parks do create a lot of jobs there's not much else they offer to the local economy outside of taxation. Most park guests pay to park in the parks own lots, they buy their food on-site and generally don't spend much if anything outside of the parks, meaning taxation is integral for the local economy to feel the positive side of having an amusement park in the local area.