Keizer, Oregon Development News

Kaiser Council Debates TOT Increase, Explores Sports Field Funding Options

The Kaiser City Council engaged in a lengthy discussion regarding a potential increase to the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) from 6% to 10% to fund improvements at the Kaiser Little League Park and potentially other tourism-related initiatives. Initially, the discussion explored establishing a Tourism Promotion Area (TPA) involving hoteliers assessing a fee on guests. However, the city manager's office proposed an alternative: increasing the TOT, which would be decided by the council and a potential ballot measure. This shift caused concern among the hotel industry representatives present, who felt blindsided and excluded from the conversation, emphasizing that the proposed TOT increase would be borne by visitors and could impact hotel competitiveness. Legal counsel advised that increasing the TOT should ideally go to a ballot measure due to state constitutional requirements and the city's charter. The council also discussed the possibility of forming a local Kaiser TPA versus joining the existing Salem TPA, with concerns raised about Kaiser's hotels being a minority voice in the larger Salem TPA. Ultimately, the council decided to table the decision and schedule a work session to further explore options with stakeholders. A separate issue regarding the management of the Kaiser Rapids Synthetic Turf Fields also involved financial discussions, with the management company, Sports Facilities Companies (SFC), proposing to waive their management fee for a year and take over operations of the turf fields to help mitigate financial shortfalls at the Little League Park, requesting budget authority for this transition.