Localities would get a smaller cut of the Historic Triangle sales tax should a bill intended to help fund a regional sports complex become law. The legislation would require Williamsburg, James City County and York County each give up 10% of their shares of the tax revenue to the project.
Senate Bill 254, introduced by Sen. Thomas K. Norment, R-James City, would amend the 2018 session’s SB 942 to require localities fork over some of their share of the 1% sales tax surcharge the 2018 legislation created when it became law.
As things stand, the Tourism Council, an arm of the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance also created by SB 942, splits the sales tax revenue and also the $2 transient occupancy tax 50-50 with Williamsburg, James City County and York County, based on where the taxes are collected. The Tourism Council uses its half to market the region to overnight tourists. The localities can do whatever they want with their shares, which would be effectively decreased should funds be specifically earmarked for the sports complex.
The allocations would go toward “the planning and construction of a shared sports facility,” according to the bill’s summary. The proposed legislation states if the three localities do not approve the development of a sports facility by July 1, 2021, then the 2018 legislation would be repealed, ending the 1% surcharge and the Tourism Council.
A Norment spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Del.-elect Amanda Batten, R-Norge, said she doesn’t care for the idea of legislators from across the state voting for a sports complex in the Williamsburg area. Batten said she is working on the language of a bill that would seek to hold a ballot referendum on SB 942, although a lot is up in the air as this year’s General Assembly session convenes Wednesday.
“At the same time, for the localities, nothing is free,” she said. “Certainly, when they received that sales tax allocation a couple (of) years ago I don’t think it’s surprising that there would at some point be an expectation, that there would be more specific demands put on how they spend that money.”
A regional sports complex has become a leading pitch to give the region’s tourism industry a boost. The Williamsburg Hotel Motel Association has spearheaded the effort to create such a facility here, with a vision of a 168,000-square-foot indoor facility that could be the venue primarily for sports tournaments, but also graduations and trade shows. The facility would attract families, and those families would dine in local restaurants, stay in local hotels and spend time at local attractions during their stays.
The sports complex would be a boon to the region’s economy, and it provides a way for the localities to come together to collaborate on the regional issue of maintaining and expanding the area’s tourism industry, said Ron Kirkland executive director of the Williamsburg Hotel Motel Association.
“Obviously it’s something the Hotel Motel Association is in favor of,” he said. “We see it as a way to help the localities.”
Kirkland said that though he’s had general conversations about tourism development aided by SB942 with Norment, he didn’t help on the proposed legislation specifically.
Local elected officials reached for comment generally liked the idea of a sports complex, but some voiced frustration with Norment’s apparent lack of coordination with localities. Some also viewed the prospect of less freedom to use localities’ share of revenue with concern.
The City of Williamsburg has already expressed interest in an indoor sports complex. In November, City Council approved $250,000 in a Tourism Development Fund grant for further study of an expansion of the Quarterpath Recreation Center into an Indoor Sports Facility. The proposal reserves about $3.3 million in additional funds for the project over the next five years with construction scheduled to begin in year three of the proposal.
Vice Mayor Doug Pons and City Council Member Barbara Ramsey both said they appreciate Norment’s continued value of the tourism industry in the region. The dedicated funding in the bill will help make sure Williamsburg stays relevant as a tourism destination, Pons said.
“I do think it’s going to be good for Williamsburg, I think we’ve been talking about it, the city, for years now. With the creation and the development of the Tourism Development Fund (the idea) was to have kind of a game-changing facility for the area that would help generate overnight visitors,” he said. “We always knew that it was dependent on the counties participating and I think there was a willingness to participate, I don’t know, in some form.”
The legislation may not directly affect Williamsburg, as it has already proposed more than 10% of its Tourism Development Fund go toward the sports complex next year. But the passage of SB 254 would pour even more money into the project. The 1% sales tax revenue generated $21.6 million in FY19, according to figures the Tourism Council published in December.
The Tourism Development Fund, created with money from the SB 942 sales tax, generated about $2.2 million toward six projects in Williamsburg to begin this year. While members reached a consensus that the indoor sports complex would cultivate further tourism, they agreed it would need regional cooperation to come to fruition.
James City County Supervisor Ruth Larson, who is also the county’s representative on the Tourism Council, said there is a need for a project like the sports complex, but it wasn’t something she had prior knowledge of before the bill was pre-filed. She hoped to get in touch with Norment to learn more about the legislation.
“We’re aware that we want to try to do something to increase product here,” she said. “We realize in our area that there is a need for that.”
The localities are already locked in to provide annual budget allocations to the Tourism Council as part of what’s called the “maintenance of effort” funding, Larson said. That money, a holdover from localities’ budget allocations during the days of the Tourism Council’s predecessor the Williamsburg Area Destination Marketing Committee, has been gathered into a fund for future capital investment.
In FY20, Williamsburg allocated $800,000, James City County allocated $740,000 and York County allocated $438,600 to the Alliance, and most of that money is passed onto the Tourism Council.
Larson also noted that should SB 254 pass as it is written, that would require the localities to rethink how they spend their shares of the SB 942 tax revenue.
Larson wasn’t the only local lawmaker left out of the loop. York County Board of Supervisors chairman Tom Shepperd didn’t know about the legislation until a Virginia Gazette reporter inquired about it. Shepperd felt snubbed by Norment, who as far as Shepperd could tell hadn’t conferred with York County officials on the legislation before it was proposed.
“He should have talked to us about it,” he said.
Shepperd didn’t appreciate that the proposal would effectively chip away at localities’ revenue through the tax, saying York County had come to rely on the revenue for education and public safety expenditures. Though Shepperd liked the idea of the sports complex, he felt it was a possibility that the bill would pass, the localities wouldn’t come to an agreement on the sports facility and the whole Historic Triangle sales tax legislation would be repealed as a result.
“We very well may end up losing this whole thing,” he said.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of York Supervisor Tom Shepperd’s name.
SaraRose Martin, 757-243-3685, sararose.martin@vagazette.com. Jack Jacobs, 757-298-6007, jojacobs@vagazette.com
