Increased hotel-motel tax revenue helps fund turf infield replacement in O’Fallon
O’Fallon’s hotel-motel tax is rebounding from the inevitable drop in revenue during the 2020 coronavirus public health crisis.
That’s the word from city officials, who say the hotel/motel revenue is up 262% compared to this time last year.
And planned upgrades for artificial turf infields at the eight ball diamonds at the Family Sports Park should help boost those numbers, city officials say.
So far in 2021, 610 teams have traveled to the Family Sports Park for baseball and softball tournaments, said City Administrator Walter Denton.
“Many of these players, and parents and guardians, stay in O’Fallon hotels, eat at O’Fallon businesses, and potentially shop in O’Fallon’s stores,” Denton said.
When Finance Director Sandy Evans was giving updates before the FY22 budget was approved by May 1, she explained there were pandemic-related deficits in the food and beverage revenue and the hotel-motel tax. In 2020, food and beverage revenue decreased 22% and the hotel-motel tax was down 38%.
The state of Illinois earmarks hotel-motel tax revenues for tourism and economic development. In O’Fallon, they help fund development of the Family Sports Park because of the business sports tournaments brings to the area.
Last year, state restrictions because of COVID-19 forced cancellation of league play and tournaments.
The hotel-motel tax, now at 9%, was increased by 4% five years ago to help fund Destination: O’Fallon, an economic development initiative to attract regional and national tournaments.
The “heads in beds” incentive was first approved in November 2016. The projects included new soccer and baseball fields at the Family Sports Park and construction of the O’Fallon Station pavilion/plaza in the downtown district.
The tax increase resulted in revenue of $1,116,148 in 2017, $1,978,200 in 2018 and $2,008,500 for 2019 after collecting $881,798 in 2016.
The O’Fallon City Council had recently agreed to fund replacing the baseball infields with all-weather artificial turf and recently hired Millennia Professional Services for the design, bid documentation and construction coordination. This is a standard engineering design contract not to exceed $96,600.
The eight fields are now out for bids, Denton said.
The project is included in the FY22 budget. Because supply costs may have increased significantly since 2020 and material lead times may be much longer, the Parks and Recreation Department noted those issues.
In their report to the council’s Parks and Environment Committee, the parks department said the fields need rehabilitation because they can’t recover from rain as quickly as when they were newer.
Over the years, the material and percentage mixture of infield mix has eroded. During rainy days, the field becomes saturated, and the city is unable to recover them with drying agents, said Andrew Dallner, the city’s acting parks director.
Turf key to booking tournaments
Because the sports field industry has moved to turf infields as a standard, tournament organizers are demanding turf infields to guarantee play, Dalner said, which is why O’Fallon needs to convert or else lose tournament bookings.
The upgrade will nearly eliminate weather-related cancellations that cause traveling teams to reconsider their planned trips to O’Fallon, Denton said.
“So far in 2021, nearly 20% of baseball/softball games played on the current dirt fields have been rained out,” he said. “When tournament games get rained out, many of the teams travel home, or don’t come to O’Fallon in the first place.”
The city spent $9.3 million on the soccer fields and $1.5 million on the pavilion, using reserve funds and issuing $9.5 million in bonds to be repaid by hotel/motel tax revenues.
As for Destination: O’Fallon, the city has met its bond requirements. Denton said the plans have generated additional revenue available to be used for current and future economic development projects, which he listed.
“Like the O’Fallon Station/Vine Street Market, hanging lights in downtown, signage and marketing, and the turf infields,” he said.
The artificial turf infield at Blazier Field at the Community Park also will be replaced. The current surface is more than 10 years old, and while not in need of immediate replacement, combining the work at the same time will provide considerable savings, Dallner said.
The cost will be shared with O’Fallon Township High School, which uses Blazier for its prep baseball teams.
O’Fallon lists 14 hotel-motels within the city limits, mostly along Interstate 64. The lodging accounts for about 1,291 rooms that includes Baymont by Wyndham, Candlewood Suites, Best Western, Drury Inn & Suites, Extended Stay America, Hilton Garden Inn, HomeTowne Studios & Suites, LaQuinta Inn & Suites, Quality Inn, Super 8 by Wyndham, Sleep Inn, Marriott TownPlace Suites, Hampton Inn and Fairfield Inn.