STEVENS POINT, WI (WSAU) — Stevens Point Mayor Mike Wiza already has millions of reasons to be happy with next week’s USGA Men’s Senior Open expected to generate some $20 million in economic impact for the region.
Now he knows that even more of that money will be staying with the city instead of going to the state thanks to the new shared revenue formula signed into law on Tuesday.
“The people that are here spending their money, part of that sales tax is going to [come back] directly to the city of Stevens Point,” said Wiza. “That is tremendous, I can’t speak enough about that.”
The new formula calls for 20% of the state’s sales tax to be split up among counties and municipalities. The previous formula had the state taking all of that money before distributing a lesser amount to those bodies.
Wiza says either way the city would have been in line for a significant boost in hotel room tax revenue from the event. “The city gets to keep 30% of that because tourists use our roads, emergency services, parks, and things like that. The rest has to go to the room tax committee.”
The committee responsible for allocating funds operates independently from the City Council and follows state guidelines. Their main focus is on supporting events that attract visitors to the city and increase hotel occupancy.
“Not only will we get the room tax from next week’s event, but now 20% of that sales tax is going to come back to municipalities. That’s really tremendous,” added Wiza.
The city also adjusted its short-term rental regulations for the event which will bring in even more revenue, allowing homeowners to rent out their homes if they so choose.
Wiza calls the shared revenue dollars “money that’s already been paid” by both Wisconsin taxpayers and visitors alike, meaning it will bring better services and more stability to communities without asking residents to dig deeper into their pockets.
