To The Editor: The Death Of The Lodging Tax Will Kill Tourism At Lake Of The Ozarks

Over thirty years ago, the three counties that surround Lake of the Ozarks (Camden, Miller & Morgan) established a 3% lodging tax for any lodging property within five miles of the lake. This tax was voted on and passed by the residents of the three counties. Sometime around 2008, an increase in the lodging tax, to 5% went back on the ballot, and only Miller County passed the increase. This tax was developed specifically to promote tourism and special events at Lake of the Ozarks which greatly benefited tourism, and fueled economic development, all of which helped make the Lake the thriving resort community that it is today.

Flash forward to 2020, and a small group of well-intended, but in my view, misguided property owners challenged the tax in court as being unconstitutional. After several lower courts rejected the challenge, the Missouri Supreme Court reversed the lower courts decision on June 25^th, 2024. Barring any legislative corrective action, the court’s decision will have delivered a death blow to tourism marketing at the Lake and will certainly be extremely damaging to tourism and economic development for many years to come.

Without getting into the weeds on the legal issues of the litigation, the crux of the challenge boiled down to a couple of issues; one of which was, if the lodging tax applied to “vacation rentals”. While the language outlined in the tax didn’t specifically refer to “vacation rentals” it was clear that the tax was intended for all “Transient Guests”. And why shouldn’t vacation rentals have to pay the lodging tax? These lodging properties directly compete with the area hotels, motels, campgrounds and resorts, and they have as much to benefit from a mass tourism marketing campaign as any other lodging facility. Another issue regarding the challenge is who can serve on the business districts boards, and who can vote for board members of the business district. The obvious answer is any property owner within the district that collects and remits the lodging tax. This is not any different than many other similar districts in Missouri such as fire or ambulance districts.

I get it, I’m a fiscal conservative, and I hate taxes of almost any kind! And if anyone should hate this tax more than anyone else at the Lake; it is me! Let me explain. I currently own The Resort at Lake of The Ozarks which is in Miller County, and all the hotels I compete with are in Camden County; which means I am paying a 5% lodging tax, while my competitors are only paying 3%; that’s a 66% difference and gives a huge competitive advantage to my competitors. While I do think that discrepancy should be equaled out to level the playing field, I am happy to collect and remit the tax because I know how very important it is for all lodging properties to coop our marketing resources, and the lodging tax is the only way to effectively and fairly accomplish that objective. Those who suggest that each individual property owner can market their property or market tourism in general through their own limited advertising budget or via social media, are not being at all realistic!

Those who have been applauding the court’s recent decision, are in my view, very misguided or misinformed on who really pays the tax, and how those tax dollars are used to the benefit of the entire community. To begin with, none of the property owners pay the lodging tax; they collect and remit it to the county. The tourists who visit the Lake hotels, resorts and other lodging facilities are the only ones who pay the tax. No resident or property owner at the lake pays any of the tax, unless they happen to be spending the night at one of our local hotels or other lodging facilities. The tax is passed on to the guest, as it is in every other lodging market across the country, including St. Louis, Kansas City & Branson. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why anyone who is invested in the lake’s future would not want revenue that comes exclusively from outside the lake community, to be collected and used to promote tourism and events at the Lake!

Like it or not, understand it or not; everyone who lives at the lake, or owns property at the Lake of the Ozarks, is in the tourism business. Every job at the lake is dependent on and supported by tourism; It doesn’t matter if you are a doctor, lawyer, utility worker, realtor, plumber or firefighter; your career at the Lake, is dependent on tourism. The substantial increase in property values at the lake is a direct result of tourism. The community bridge would never have been possible, nor would it have ever been paid off, if not for tourism! Every new road, bridge, electric service, natural gas lines, clean city water & sewer systems, highspeed internet and every other luxury we have all come to appreciate is a direct result of tourism, all of which has been greatly benefited by our lodging tax that has allowed our community to prosper the way it has.

For the past two years, I have been intricately involved in the Miller County Business District as the current and past chair of that Board, as well as the current Co-Chair of Try County Lodging Association (TCLA), and a current board member of the Convention and Visitor Bureau (CVB); all of which are directly involved with the lodging tax to some extent. I don’t know how any of these boards operated in 2020, when this dispute first began, but I do know that some changes have been made over the past several years to accommodate all concerned. That said, I know very well how these boards operate today, and how the tax dollars are used to the great benefit of everyone in our community. Board members of each of these entities are business leaders in our community, and meetings are open to the public. Lodging tax dollars are not spent unless agreed to by each of the business districts, all of which are subject to annual audit, and there is complete transparency.

So, how much money is being collected, and what is it being spent on? The fiscal year is July 1^st, through June 30^th of each year. For fiscal year 2023 in round numbers the lodging tax collected was $2,450,000, and YTD fiscal year 2024 the tax dollars are up by 8.5% so it could be estimated to be $2,650,000. Additionally, in 2024 we received $292k in Matching Marketing Grants from Missouri Division of Tourism and are already approved for $280k in grant funding for 2025, which began July 1^st, 2024. The total Joint Marketing Budget for FY 2024 is $1,936,000 plus the $292k in grant dollars. In fiscal year 2025, the joint marketing budget increases by over $900,000! These marketing funds are distributed as a percentage, as follows:

Print 3%

Digital Billboards 6.4%

Digital Marketing 32.5%

Radio & TV (Chiefs & Cardinals Radio, Streaming TV) 11.7%

Public Relations (includes content stories, etc.) 5.6%

Group Marketing 11.3%

Marketing Fulfillment (creative, publication distribution, etc.) 14.3%

Operations & Admin 15.2%

In addition to the extensive marketing campaign the lodging tax supports, it also budgeted over $400k for Special Events in FY 2024. Think about all the great events that have been created all around the lake over the past couple of decades, most of these events could have never got off the ground without the financial assistance the lodging tax provides for special events. You may ask, why does a lodging tax support special events? Because these events put heads in beds, which is precisely what the lodging tax is all about. These are just a few of the events the lodging tax support:

Lake of the Ozarks Shoot Out

LOTO Shoot Out Offshore, Lake of the Ozarks

Lake of the Ozarks Bikefest Ozark Rides Rally

Professional Fishing Tournaments

Youth Fishing Tournaments

Lake of the Ozarks Air ShowJeep Invasion

Mardi Gras Pub Crawl Fall Crawl

Apple Festival Eagle Days

Hot Summer Nights

FCA Bridge and Dam Marathon

So, who is happy about the lodging tax going away, other than the “vocal minority” who challenged the tax? That would be the lodging & tourist communities of Branson, Kansas City and St. Louis, all of whom pay a significantly higher lodging tax than the lake respectively. In-fact Kansas City and St. Louis pay a 7.25% lodging tax. So now all the tourism marketing all around the Mid-West and other markets the lake has traditionally drawn from, will now be spent to promote Kansas City, St. Louis and Branson, and none of it will be spent to promote our beautiful Lake of the Ozarks resort community! That my friends and neighbors, is an absolute tragedy of monumental proportions!

For those who would assert that more visitors will come to the lake without the lodging tax, I would suggest that anyone making that argument knows very little about business and the importance of marketing and advertising. The lodging tax has been in effect at the lake for over thirty years, and during that time it has fueled tourism, not hindered it. Travelers are very accustomed to paying a lodging tax, and the Lake’s tax is substantially less than the lodging/tourism tax in KC, St. Louis and Brasson. St. Louis also charges a 3.5% tax on sporting events; do you think that is going to keep someone from going to a Cardinals game? Branson charges a 4% tax on not just lodging, but on amusements, do you think that is going to keep someone from taking in a show or visiting Silver Dollar City? Branson even charges a .05% tourism tax on restaurants! I will say it again, I hate taxes more than almost anyone, but some taxes are necessary to the benefit of a community, and the lodging tax at the lake, is extremely competitive with other markets in Missouri, and provides a considerable benefit.

As the only Developer & Entrepreneur who has ever invested in and built a new hotel development at Lake of the Ozarks in over thirty years, and the current owner of the third largest hotel at the lake; I have a lot of skin in the game, and a heck of a lot to lose by this travesty. The Resort at Lake of the Ozarks pays more in lodging tax than all other lodging properties in Miller County combined. You might think eliminating this tax might be a good thing, and beneficial to my business, but I know first-hand that it will be very damaging to my business as it will to the entire lake community.

As previously noted, I think the group that began down this path, were well intentioned, and may have had some legitimate concerns at the time they began this journey, but I do not believe that they fully considered the unintended consequences this action will have on our community for many years to come. If anyone who lives or owns property at the lake doesn’t think that eliminating the lodging tax will have an adverse impact on their life and livelihood, I have every confidence that they will soon realize that they are sadly mistaken.