presstalk 671-TALK

• I noticed in last week’s farragutpress that the Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen is concerned about revenue. There is one very easy revenue source that is available to them and, in fact, was already approved by this Board on a first reading several years ago. It concerns levying a 2 or 3 percent Hotel/Motel Tax on those out-of-area folks who are using hotel/motels within the Town’s limits, which is primarily the Campbell Station Road exit. This could easily generate many hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and it’s standard operating procedure at cities, towns, counties and states throughout the country.

Why isn’t the town of Farragut collecting this tax? It’s strictly a pass through that is paid primarily by out-of-area consumers, not by the hotels and motels themselves. Some of this money could be earmarked to promote sporting events at the Town’s growing number of artificial-turf, year-round fields so as to generate business for these hotels and motels along with area restaurants. Sure sounds like a no-brainer.