With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, the City Council has moved meetings to the first and third Thursdays, instead of second and fourth. Photo: Derek Lacey/Axios
Huntsville City Council is expected to vote tonight on a lodging tax increase and Tax Increment Financing District (TIF) 9 to help support major upgrades at the Von Braun Center.
Why it matters: The city is working to keep the VBC competitive for big events — major economic drivers for the city — that are threatening to outgrow the facility.
Catch up quick: Huntsville postponed the vote on a 1% lodging tax increase at its last meeting to take it up alongside the vote to create TIF 9, which it can now move forward with after Madison County gave its go-ahead last week.
The lodging tax increase, which the city says is supported by the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau and other hospitality industries, would bring the total tax for hotel room nights to 10%.
The TIF vote isn't for a new tax. It will create a 3,700-acre district downtown, inside which new tax revenue will be captured for up to 30 years to pay down debt borrowed for five specific infrastructure projects inside its boundaries.
Read more about the lodging tax here, and the TIF here.
Zoom in: Per the resolution, those projects include $5 million for work to increase capacity for Lowe Avenue and improvements for the new Huntsville Junior High School.
Three other projects in the plan, at $5 million each, include renovations for the former Federal Courthouse on Holmes Avenue, the North Huntsville Beltline Greenway System, and a "park associated with the U.S. HUD Choice Neighborhood Mill Creek Redevelopment Project."
Case in point: The $200-million VBC project includes "construction of a new North Hall exhibit area," "new South Hall entrances, new access bridge, outdoor concourses," and more.
What we're watching: How this work will tie in the upgrades along Pinhook Creek, transforming that area between the VBC and the Parkway into a linear park and greenway.
