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Voters won�t foot bill for new sports park Medford�s measure 15-19 would boost visitor lodging tax By Jessica Smith Proponents of a plan to build a new sports park want to be very clear � Medford residents won�t be responsible for paying a tax increase that would fund the project. Instead, visitors staying at local motels, inns and boarding houses would foot the bill under a November ballot measure that proposes increasing the city�s transient lodging tax. "We want (residents) to know this will not be a tax they will be paying out of their pockets," said Dana Didericksen, a Medford parks commissioner who is campaigning for the measure as a member of the Citizens for Medford Parks. The group will kick off its educational campaign at 5 p.m. next Wednesday downtown in Alba Park. The City Council in June approved sending to voters ballot measure 15-19, which would add to visitor lodging costs by authorizing the city to increase the so-called hotel-motel tax by 3 percent. Visitors already pay a 6 percent lodging tax each night they stay in Medford, generating about $1.1 million in revenue for the city each year. With a 3 percent increase, Didericksen said, the city could set aside money for a planned sports park off Highway 99 near the defunct Starlite Drive-in movie theater in south Medford. The city for years has suffered from a shortage of playing fields. At the same time, tourism officials have seen the economic value in hosting such events as the Rogue Valley Cup, which draws about 5,000 participants and spectators as one of the largest soccer tournaments in Oregon. Tentative plans for the future sports park include a six-diamond adult softball complex and various baseball fields built for Little League and Babe Ruth teams. It would also boast seven soccer fields and several covered basketball courts, not to mention a bike-racing velodrome. The promise of a sports complex and the crowds it could bring � backers say Medford is a choice location for sports tournaments because of its climate � has the lodging industry taking notice.` Todd Thoreson, manager of the Red Lion Hotel and chairman of the Visitor and Convention Bureau�s development committee, said there is widespread support for a lodging tax increase that would fund a sports complex. The increase also would benefit the VCB, which receives about 25 percent of the lodging tax for its marketing efforts. Thoreson said the increase would have little effect on lodging costs. For example, visitors staying in a $100-a-night room already pay a $6 tax under the existing lodging tax rate. With the proposed increase, visitors would pay $9 tax for the same room. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA