Harpers Ferry residents being asked to vote on hotel/motel tax in September 13 special election

Residents within the city limits of Harpers Ferry will be voting on Public Measure AM seeking approval of a seven-percent hotel/motel tax in a special election scheduled for Tuesday, September 13 in Harpers Ferry. The Harpers Ferry Community Center will be the lone polling location for the election, and polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The official language that will be on the special election ballot for Public Measure AM reads as follows:

“Shall the City of Harpers Ferry, Iowa, be authorized to impose a hotel and motel tax at the rate of seven percent (7%), effective January 1, 2023, with at least fifty percent (50%) of the revenues derived from the tax to be used for park and recreation programs and facilities for the City of Harpers Ferry?”

A simple majority of 50% of voters plus one more is required to pass the measure. The tax would then go into effect January 1 of the new year for a time period yet to be determined.

As suggested in the ballot language above, at least half of any revenue raised by the proposed hotel/motel tax will be used for the City of Harpers Ferry Park and Recreation Department programs and facilities. Harpers Ferry City Clerk Kelli Melcher explained that the other half of the revenue raised has not been designated for a specific use by the Harpers Ferry City Council at this time and likely will not be until budget planning begins for the next fiscal year. Melcher also said that there are currently 15 lodging facilities within the Harpers Ferry city limits that would be implementing the seven-percent tax if it is passed in next Tuesday’s special election.

Harpers Ferry Mayor Jerry Valley explained that the City’s pursuit of the tax is in an effort to further improve the City’s recreational programming and facilities, as well as possible infrastructure and other community needs. He noted that payment of such a tax by visitors to the community seems applicable, as those items are often utilized to a greater degree when visitors come to Harpers Ferry for a much-welcomed stay.

According to the Iowa League of Cities, a hotel/motel tax is “imposed on the gross receipts from rented sleeping rooms or sleeping quarters in any hotel, motel, inn, public lodging house, rooming house, tourist court, bed-and-breakfast or in any place where sleeping accommodations are furnished to transient guests. The taxes are remitted to the Iowa Department of Revenue on a quarterly basis. The actual amount collected is distributed to the City quarterly through an automatic deposit to the City’s account.”

This would be the first such hotel/motel tax imposed within the community of Harpers Ferry. Fellow Allamakee County communities of Waukon and Lansing also each have a seven-percent hotel/motel tax currently in place on all their rented lodging facilities, with Allamakee County also having a seven-percent hotel/motel tax imposed on all such facilities within the unincorporated areas of the county. According to the Iowa Department of Revenue, 169 communities in Iowa have such a tax in place, with a vast majority of those being imposed at the maximum of seven percent and just a couple communities approving the tax as low as five percent.

The Harpers Ferry City Council passed a resolution earlier this year to hold the election, and then received approval through Allamakee County officials. Allamakee County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections Denise Beyer said the dates for such special elections were determined by the Iowa Legislature as being able to take place in either March or September, and the election could not be held in conjunction with the upcoming general election in November due to its city-specific nature. Iowa Code also specifies that June 1 and January 1 are the only two dates that such a tax can begin to be imposed.

“The City of Harpers Ferry designated the September timeframe so the tax could begin right away the first of the new year,” Beyer said. “That gives enough time to meet the deadlines required for filing the proper notice and paperwork the State requires in order for the tax to begin January 1.”

A sample ballot for the election can be found at the Allamakee County Auditor’s office or at https://allamakeecountyelections.iowa.gov/elections/. An official Notice of Election was published in the Public Notices section on Page 20 of the August 24, 2022 edition of The Standard. For additional information about the election or any early, absentee or in-person voting specifics, contact the Allamakee County Auditor’s Office at 563-568-3522.