Representatives of just over half of eligible hotels signed a petition to initiate an additional 1 percent tax on stays that would help pay for a rooftop expansion of the Colorado Convention Center.
The 51 percent support received on a petition submitted to Denver finance officials surpassed a 30 percent threshold required to initiate the new kind of tourism tax under . On Wednesday, a council committee advanced a proposal to create and form the board for a citywide Tourism Improvement District, which would apply only to the 116 hotels that have 50 or more rooms.
A vote by the full council is set for Aug. 28. Approval would lead to the setting of a Nov. 7 special election for the affected hotels to approve the new tax, which would make the effective tax paid by guests of those hotels 15.75 percent.
The tax effort is organized by the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association and Visit Denver, and the new tax is expected to generate $8.7 million in the first year. Of that, $3.8 million would go to for the convention center. The rest would supplement Visit Denver’s marketing efforts and maintenance projects in the convention center.
