The Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau says it is still considering a plan to ask voters to increase the local lodging tax by 1 percentage point.
An increase in the tax from 13.85 percent to 14.85 percent could bring in up to $3 million in additional funding for the convention bureau, said president and chief executive Richard Scharf. That money would be spent promoting Denver and the expanded Colorado Convention Center, he said.
“We’re confident that a 1 (percentage- point) increase is reasonable and would not gouge visitors,” he said. Scharf didn’t say when a decision would be made.
If approved by the convention bureau board and the Denver City Council, the initiative could be on the ballot this fall.
Councilman Charlie Brown said he would vote in favor of the increase.
“Tourism is a major industry for our city and for our state, and we have fallen behind,” he said. “If we don’t promote ourselves, nobody else will.”
In Vail, the Town Council decided Tuesday night to ask voters this fall to roughly double the town’s lodging tax to raise funds for a conference center.
Vail voters initially approved a 1.5 percentage-point lodging- tax increase and a 0.5 percentage-point sales-tax increase in 2002 to pay for the proposed 120,000-square-foot center.
But construction costs have increased from $42.5 million to a range of $57 million to $65 million, town officials said.
“Early in the process we were led to believe that those were the accurate costs,” councilman Kent Logan said. “The fact is this is the real budget.”
The exact amount of the proposed lodging-tax increase has not yet been determined. Vail’s total sales tax is currently 11.8 percent.
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-820-1592 or jdunn@denverpost.com.
