Our community has many attractions to be enjoyed by residents and visitors alike.  However, we lack the financial resources to promote, improve and expand those attractions.

The proposed lodging tax will provide the needed money to be used to promote, improve and expand our attractions.  AND, IT WILL NOT BE PAID BY ANY RESIDENT OF PURCELL!  Only out of town guests will pay the tax when they pay for overnight lodging in our town.

Purcell is one if not the last community along I-35, rural, suburban or metropolitan, that does not currently collect a lodging tax.  Some claim not having a lodging tax places our lodging industry into a competitive advantage over other communities.  The reality is guests make their lodging choices based upon location and room costs.  Taxes do not influence those choices along I-35.

Once the proposal is passed and we begin to collect the tax, we will see the funds being spent on promoting our community and enhancing our attractions in order to attract more visitors to our community.

The new visitors will spend their lodging, fuel, food and supply dollars in our community, improving the commerce for our businesses and increasing the sales and lodging taxes.  We will see those increases result in more re-investments into our community which will attract even more visitors.

We do not have to look any further that Pauls Valley to see the positive impact a lodging tax can have on a community.

Name recognition, festivals, museums, art galleries, events and even more hotel beds have resulted from Pauls Valley’s lodging tax implemented about 15 years ago.  The same could happen in our community.

So, the real question we should be asking is:  Why do we NOT have a lodging tax in Purcell?