Recent legislation calls for the merging of the Cashiers and Jackson County tourism agencies. People at the Cashiers TDA are not happy, as they receive 75% of the Jackson County room tax. The bill also widens purposes for which room tax revenues may be spent to include “tourism-related activities.”
Putting on festivals, building greenways or assisting the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad with the cost of an engine turntable could all be legal uses of the tourism revenue under the new bill.
The orders to merge apparently arose because the Jackson County Commissioners waited until after the deadline to submit bills to request increasing the local room tax from 3 to 6%. Representative Phil Haire responded by adding the request as a rider to a bill already in process.
Haire aims to please, and he has demonstrated eagerness to rewrite the bill. The commissioners, however, want more time to deliberate.
