City Transient Room Tax Passes on 1st Reading

The Paducah City Commission held their meeting Tuesday afternoon where they discussed ordinances involving the city's transient room tax.

The ordinances, which received their first readings, included establishing the inter-local agreement with McCracken County, amending the Paducah code of ordinances involving the Paducah-McCracken County Tourist and Convention Commission (Sections 2-441, 2-445), and establishing the city's transient room tax.

The proposed ordinances are set to be approved at the August 26 joint meeting between city and county leaders.

Jim Arndt began discussion on authorizing the inter-local agreement, mentioning how it will improve ball fields and give the city tournament-worthy sports facilities which will be instrumental in bringing vacationers and families that might be considering a move into the region."

Arndt said, "People are coming into town and staying in those hotels and motel rooms or the Airbnb and actually participating in tournaments here in Paducah, we're hosting them here and they're going to the restaurants and they're eating here, they're getting gas here, they're going to the stores here, and who knows, while they're here they're partaking in Paducah, and perhaps they want to stay here, come back here, live here, because they see the quality of life that we have here in Paducah."

Following the first ordinance, the Commission then reviewed and approved an amendment renaming the 'Paducah-McCracken County Convention & Visitors Bureau' to the 'Paducah Convention & Visitors Bureau.'

Last on the list, the Commission introduced and approved the city's transient room tax. The ordinance approved the collection, use, and enforcement of the transient room tax. A 3% tax would go towards operating the Paducah Convention & Visitors Bureau, and a 1% tax that will go towards the operational costs of the Convention Center Corporation.

Arndt added, "The key thing there on this ordinance is that these will not go into affect until the inter-local agreement is fully adopted by all parties."

"I want to say this could have gone a different way. We could have done this without cooperation, statutorily this could have been done without this inter-local agreement." Said Mayor Harless, "Instead we chose to come to the table and create an agreement that we all saw appropriate.  Our pathway forward is now collaborative and I think that's a really important part."