The tax that Lawton has been charging on the rental of hotel and motel rooms since 1986 has covered the costs of activities as varied as performances by Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra, the massive fireworks display that closes out the annual Fourth of July celebration, and national conventions that open in Lawton.
While a large portion of the revenue typically as gone to the Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce and, more recently, the Lawton Economic Development Corporation, those entities say the money has been equally important in supporting activities that enhance life in Lawton-Fort Sill.
Those activities include performances by Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), one of the local entities funded under the tourism category created by the City Council to guide allocations.
Patty Neuwirth, LPO executive director, said the revenue is crucial, particularly in the coming year.
“We are down 73 percent, income wise,” she said, of revenue drops in a year without in-person performances because of the COVID-19 pandemic (no performances, no ticket sales). “The hotel-motel tax is going to be crucial, building back up. We only have half as many season subscribers. We’re not getting any tickets. Half of our advertisers didn’t do it (advertise) again. The hotel-motel tax is even more important than it would be normally.”
LPO is targeted to receive $10,000 from the tourism category this fiscal year (funding was cut for all entities because overall tax revenue is down and because more entities are receiving funding). LPO has received up to $40,000 in hotel-motel tax revenue, depending on what was collected that year, Neuwirth said.
Those funds help LPO support its activities, beyond the annual concert series. She said LPO also sponsors children’s concerts, something members deem so important to introducing youth to the world of classical music, they do it for free. While COVID-19 forced cancellation of this year’s concert, Neuwirth said the orchestra is using the virtual world and sending out videos.
“We want to have our free children’s concerts again. It’s really important to us,” she said, adding LPO members and others, including the chamber of commerce, continue to plan and work aggressively on activities that will draw people to Lawton because that, in turn, generates more money for the community.
“It’s very unusual for a town our size to have a professional orchestra,” Neuwirth said. “We want to keep that going.”
Jay Burk, the Lawton Ward 4 councilman who is the long-time chair of the Lawton Enhancement Trust Authority (LETA), said that entity has been receiving 5 percent of the hotel-motel tax, a percentage increased to 7 percent this fiscal year.
LETA was created to focus on beautification/aesthetics in the community, and Burk said the hotel-motel tax is now the group’s major revenue source. While LETA’s annual budget used to be about $5,000 a year — and its activities reflected that — the hotel-motel tax now guarantees about $50,000 annually. The result has been an increase in projects and activities.
“That does a lot of good things,” Burk said, pointing to projects such as the Elmer Thomas Park and a new park pavilion, as well as other improvements in parks across the city. “We try to put a new face on Lawton. We change the ugly. Without that funding to help push some initiatives forward, I don’t think any of that stuff would get done.”
It’s not just LETA that benefits from the revenue. Burk said about 20 organizations apply for and receive (or have received) funding. In addition to the Freedom Festival and its fireworks display, city officials recently added Holiday in the Park (Lawton’s Christmas display) to the funding list. Over the years, organizations such as Lawton Rangers, Lawton Community Theatre and Lawton Heritage Association (which operates the Mattie Beal Home) also have been funded.
Burk said one of the strongest arguments for the tax is that it is paid by those who live outside the community, but come to Lawton to sleep in hotel/motel rooms and spend money on other activities. Lawton residents are exempt.
“It doesn’t cost us anything, and helps all these organizations,” he said.
Mark Scott, chairman of the Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce board of directors, said funding allocated to the chamber funds the convention and visitor’s bureau, whose work is focused exclusively on those two areas. That’s why the tax is important.
“My personal feeling is that the dollars we gain from this tax are dollars that are not otherwise left in our community,” he said. “It’s dollars from outside our community that we take and re-invest in other groups that are coming into our community.”
That is the key to using those dollars: they are directed to the chamber to be used to bring even more people into town to spend even more money. For example, the bureau had secured three major conventions in 2020. While two were cancelled because of the pandemic, both plan to return to Southwest Oklahoma for their 2021 conventions.
One is a mayor’s summit, which Scott said is expected to bring at least 150 mayors from around the state, along with their traveling companions. He said that’s the potential for up to 300 people, staying for three to five days, booking hotel rooms, eating in local restaurants and spending money on other things.
“That was a big deal for us,” he said, adding that convention has not been held in this area of the state before.
A third convention, Junior Chamber International, was held in Lawton in September and Chamber President Krista Ratliff said the net result was 475 room nights, with those room occupants each paying the existing 5.5 percent hotel-motel tax.
Ratliff said the tax allows Lawton to stay in the forefront in all arenas, not just economic development. She noted the various organizations that also receive funding, entities that help make Lawton a five-star city while helping the chamber entice more conventions and tourists. That is why the hotel-motel tax funds things such as marketing and tourism brochures, as well as grants to those who do accept Lawton’s invitation. Without the tax, there is no funding for the convention and tourism bureau.
“That is something that brings tourists to town,” she said, adding that also is why hotel/motel owners are readily supporting this year’s initiative “Without that, people are not staying in hotels.”
Brad Cooksey, president of the Lawton Economic Development Corporation (LEDC), said that until this fiscal year, the hotel-motel tax was the only revenue source for the economic development work that is the reason for LEDC’s existence.
“It’s obviously very important to us,” he said, adding LEDC board members also consider the tax revenue an important support for other entities in the community.
“Our primary purpose is to create jobs, and with that comes other things in the community,” he said, of efforts to do things such as expand infrastructure, and aid local businesses with their expansion and growth, or other issues. “That’s what we do, aid their cause.”
That wouldn’t be possible without the hotel-motel tax, he said, explaining the fund also helps fund the LEDC staff tasked with the overall marketing strategy of Lawton-Fort Sill economic development efforts, allowing them to be involved in activities on state and regional levels to drive economic attention back to Lawton. Without the funding, LEDC would find it difficult to function and that would mean ceding economic development opportunities to other communities.
“Without this source, I don’t know if the LEDC would have been created and kept going,” he said.
The City of Lawton benefits from the tax by allocating money to the city’s economic development fund, where expenditures are restricted. For example, they helped improve the traffic signal system at Southwest 38th Street and West Lee Boulevard, in turn helping traffic generated by customers who shop at the Neighborhood Market.
“These signals were installed to assist in the development of a business within our city, which promotes continued growth of our city, and accomplishes a guaranteed public benefit,” said Deputy City Manager Richard Rogalski. “There is always a public purpose behind the funds we use for economic development.”
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