Winder questions use of city tax money by chamber

In a longstanding arrangement, Winder’s council each year allocates to the chamber almost one-third of the revenues from the city’s hotel/motel tax. Overnight visitors pay a 7-percent local tax, with the city keeping the revenues from 5 percent of that tax and the chamber getting two percent. The chamber then gives back to the city nearly half of its $25,000 in annual proceeds to cover the rent of the depot building that it rents from the city. That leaves $13,000 in annual proceeds for the chamber to use on tourism activities, which is the stated purpose of the tax.

Councilman Bob Dixon, the liaison to the Winder Downtown Development Authority, raised the question of whether the city’s hotel/motel tax revenues would be better directed to the DDA to help fund a new full-time staff position rather than given to the chamber.

Jennings told the council Monday that the chamber also has been “active in working mostly behind the scenes in being concerned about downtown and the face of downtown.”

For the full story, see the Feb. 8 issue of the Barrow Journal.