LPO supports hotel/motel tax hike
Lawton citizens have an extremely important election coming up on February 9 — one that will affect the funding for many local arts organizations, including the Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra. On Feb. 9, citizens will take to the polls for an election to levy and assess the continuation of the “Hotel/Transient Guest” tax — a tax in which local residents are exempt.
The Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra depends, in part, on our city’s hotel/motel tax to fund the orchestra’s concerts and educational outreach efforts every year. The orchestra hosts three concerts a year, featuring professional musicians and renowned conductor Maestro Jon Kalbfleisch. Along with its concerts, the orchestra provides extensive educational outreach to area youth by hosting free student concerts and sending recorded lessons to local schools.
The Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra has been providing exceptional classical music and music education to Southwest Oklahoma for over 50 years. For our community to have an orchestra of its size and talent is unheard of, and for that, we are thankful for our patrons, partners, sponsors and our community for supporting us by either attending concerts or making donations that have allowed us to endure all these years. The orchestra has been more than thankful for the generosity of our citizens who voted on the previous hotel/motel tax as this funding has greatly served our mission of providing musical and educational activities in Lawton and Southwest Oklahoma.
The upcoming hotel/motel tax election on Feb. 9 will increase the current hotel/motel tax from 5.5 percent to 7 percent. The occupancy tax is funded through hotel, motel and home-sharing visitors to our community; Lawtonians are exempt from this tax with proof of residency. It’s important to remember that many communities in our state and in our neighboring states have a similar tax. Wichita Falls, Texas, for example, has a 9 percent hotel/motel tax rate.
This is Our Lawton. And we should do everything we can to make Lawton a 5-Star City. Please remember to vote on Feb. 9.
More information about the upcoming hotel/motel tax election on Feb. 9 can be found at lawtonproud.com/our-lawton.
Patty Neuwirth is executive director of the LPO.
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January 19, 2021 at 02:00PM
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LETTER: LPO supports hotel/motel tax hike | Letters To Editor | swoknews.com - The Lawton Constitution
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