Hotel and motel taxes will be raised if voters say yes.
There is a referendum in Grand Rapids, Michigan that is asking local residents whether they want to raise the local hotel and motel occupancy tax from five to eight percent to fund a minor-league soccer stadium and music amphitheater. The voters are being sold this. Over a 32-year period, the estimated economic impact of the proposed soccer stadium and the 12,000-capacity amphitheater totals $1.2 billion in Kent County, according to an economic impact study commissioned by Grand Action 2.0, the private economic development group leading the charge to build the venues. The claim is the soccer field which will have a small capacity of 8,500-seats for a lower-level United Soccer League franchise will generate at least $37.6 million in revenue annually. That will come from 17 soccer games a year and 50 other events. That also leaves about 300 days where the stadium will be empty. The hotel-motel tax would generate about $9 million annually and seems to fall short of the projections by about $28 million, so where will the money come from? There will only be 67 events annually but there doesn’t seem to be an answer from the Grand Rapids stadium backers to that question.
The stadium backers claim that “the stadium will be designed as a multi-purpose, professional, high-performing venue driving economic growth and development in a vital urban district. It will become the home of professional soccer in West Michigan and also serve a broader community asset supporting youth, colleges, and amateur clubs” The backers also have claimed the stadium and businesses that will come to the area will create around 1,300 jobs and produce $435 million in economic growth. One more thing the backers claim. A stadium will benefit a broad range of residents, especially the large Latinx community, and will draw new visitors to the area. The voters will decide all of that.
Proposed soccer stadium.
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