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Visitor�s center gains support Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Tourists get directions at the Jacksonville Visitor�s Information Center from volunteer Larry Smith. The city is considering revenue from motel taxes and an increase in the room tax as soltuions to keep the center funded. Jacksonville considers funding options to run tourist bureau By Melissa Martin JACKSONVILLE � Tourists can still find colorful brochures and a smiling face seven days a week at the Visitor�s Information Center, Jacksonville City Council members promised business owners. The City Council likely will increase motel tax receipts from 35 to 50 percent to increase funding for the Visitor�s Center. The city also plans to raise Jacksonville�s room tax from 6 to 8 percent later this year as a more long-term solution, according to Mayor Jim Lewis. "We don�t need to be convinced that the Visitor�s Center is worthwhile,�� council member Joyce Coleman told business owners in a study session Tuesday afternoon. "The question is, �where will the money come from?� �� For the past three years, the Chamber of Commerce has operated the center, housed in a former railroad depot next to the post office, which costs $30,000 annually to operate. The Chamber asked the city for $20,000 this year and planned to collect the remaining $10,000 from fundraising efforts, said Stephanie Horton, president of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber threatened to shorten Visitor Center hours after learning that the city would contribute $12,000 instead of last year�s $18,000. The city budgeted $6,000 of the tourist dollars to the regional program that provides low-cost meals for senior citizens, said Paul Wyntergreen, city administrator. "The Information Center is the hub of this community,�� Horton told the City Council members. "It creates and distributes information to visitors, retail merchants and residents alike.�� Last year, 11,254 people stopped by the Visitor�s Center, up from 10,444 the previous year, said Maryl Cipperly, the office manager and one of two part-time employees. "My business would suffer greatly without the Visitor�s Center because there would be nobody to answer the phones or respond to questions and send business my way,�� said Maryann Ramsden, owner of McCully House restaurant and bed and breakfast, where rooms rent for $125 a night. Jacksonville�s 61 rooms for rent, both bed and breakfast houses and motels, contribute $32,000 to city coffers, said Lee Lewis, owner of the Orth House Bed and Breakfast. During the three-month long summer outdoor concert series held at the Britt Grounds, tourists fill the rooms and many are turned away. "We want to get people to extend their stay in Jacksonville and to spend their money,�� said Dennis Ramsden, of McCully House. "There is nothing in this town but tourism, no manufacturing, nothing else that supports the businesses along the main streets.�� In Jacksonville, 62 of the 282 businesses are members of the Chamber of Commerce, which maintains a Web site, runs the Visitor�s Center and purchases advertising to help support this city�s tourism industry, Horton said. For every $1 a city spends to promote tourism, its shops and businesses get $41 back, according to Ashland resident Amy Cuddy, who is a member of the governor-appointed Oregon Tourism Commission. Jacksonville is not the only city considering a higher motel tax. The city of Medford may ask voters this fall to increase the motel tax from 6 to 9 percent over a five-year period. The additional money would guarantee future funding for the Visitor�s and Convention Bureau, executive director Julie Petretto told Jacksonville council members. "A 9 percent room tax isn�t that high,�� said Mayor Lewis. "I�m going to St. Petersburg for a conference this week where the room tax is 13.9 percent.�� In July, the Jacksonville City Council will hold a public hearing about the ordinance that will allow the city to increase room tax funding allocations from 35 to 50 that go to the Visitor�s Information Center. 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