Proposed Hoover lodging tax hike carried over to July 20 meeting
Hoover City Council officials hinted strongly after a Monday, July 6 council meeting that they will approve Mayor Gary Ivey’s request to double the city portion of the Hoover lodging tax.
Since the July 6 meeting was the first reading of the mayor’s proposal to raise the city lodging tax, the council won’t take any action until the second reading on Monday, July 20.
Brian Skelton, president pro tem of the city council, said in an interview after the meeting that boosting Hoover’s lodging tax from 3 percent to 6 percent will simply put the city in line with what most other surrounding cities charge.
“We’ve heard that Vestavia Hills and Mountain Brook are going to do it as soon as we do,” Skelton said. “I think it’s very positive move. We appreciate the mayor’s leadership.”
Including the 4 percent the State of Alabama receives from the city lodging tax and 7 percent both Jefferson and Shelby Counties receive, that would increase the total lodging tax in Hoover from 14 percent to 17 percent.
Hoover's 3 percent lodging tax generates about $1.5 million a year, so the boost to 6 percent would double that revenue. The city would use the extra lodging tax revenue to fund various capital projects and debt service.
The tax would go into effect in October 2015, with the new fiscal year. Birmingham boosted its lodging tax to 6.5 percent tax in 2010 to help fund the building of Regions Field baseball stadium downtown to attract the Birmingham Barons from the Hoover Met.
Homewood, Leeds and Bessemer all have a 6 percent lodging tax, while Irondale's is 7 percent and Fultondale's lodging tax is 9 percent. However, Hoover's lodging tax rate would be double the 3 percent current lodging tax in neighboring cities Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills.
Read more about the proposed lodging tax increase in the Hoover Sun at http://hooversun.com/news/hoover-city-council-to-consider-raising-lodging-tax-during-j/
Other issues discussed during the July 6 meeting:
- The council approved a resolution authorizing Mayor Ivey to sign a $5,000 one-year agreement with a non-profit called One Roof to provide services to help the homeless in Hoover.
- The council authorized city officials to accept a low bid of $64,696 with D.B. Nooney LLC to put piping in an existing ditch along Inverness Parkway from north of Old Stone Road to Woodford Dr. That bid was less than half the high bid of $169,825.
- The council authorized Mayor Ivey to sign a maintenance agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation for resurfacing Rocky Ridge Road from Lorna Road to Shades Crest Road.The project will include grading, draining, paving and other improvements.
- Skelton said during the meeting that the council and mayor’s office will look into the complaints Bluff Park resident Robin Schultz made about the conditions at Shades Mountain Plaza. Schultz said the property owner has allowed the parking lot in front of Piggly-Wiggly to get into disrepair, including potholes, and that businesses are losing customers to other shopping centers in better shape.