Geary County Commissioner Alex Tyson said Monday that the Convention & Visitors Bureau Board recently voted not to raise the transient guest tax and separately also wants to forego building a sports complex. Tyson sits as an ex-officio member for the county commission on the CVB Board.
The current transient guest tax rate is 6% with 1% of that amount slated for a possible future sports complex. Tyson indicated he is supportive of a proposed 1% increase in the TGT and he also doesn't think the County should stop collecting funds for a sports complex. The additional 1% would go to upgrade current sports facilities.
Tyson said that when you have not seen the impact of what youth sports can do for your community, if you're able to host and do those type of events you're not going to support what this project could and should be. "When you don't think outside of the box it's hard to see the big picture."
Past estimates have put the cost of a sports complex in the range of $7-$10 million but the current funding total raised for a sports complex falls far short of that range. Tyson noted he doesn't think it would be on Geary County to do a project that big. Being able to work with the City and possibly the school district to achieve something would be a goal but those conversations are premature. He added when you have three different entities going three different ways it's hard to see that.
The commissioner also noted that there have been conversations about the possibility of a business coming in and looking at something like that. But a lot would need to be done to get a sports complex.
No final actions or decisions have been made.