The Chadron City Council voted unanimously last night to put a 2% lodging tax for recreational facilities in parks on the May 14th primary election ballot.
The 2% tax would be on top of the 4% county lodging tax used to fund tourism.
City staff brought the idea to the council during budget workshops, so there was little discussion before last night’s vote.
Mayor George Klein says the council members think the lodging tax is “a reasonable thing to do” to fund park projects.
Klein says only one local hotel operator expressed opposition to the proposal after its initial discussion during the budget workshops.
Local government is barred by law from campaigning for or against ballot measures, but individual city council members can. Klein says he will remain publicly neutral and doubts if his colleagues will campaign either.
The City Council also approved a proclamation declaring next week, Feb 11-17, as FBLA – Future Business Leaders of America – Week in Chadron.
Chadron High School FBLA advisor Renee Noble and nearly a dozen of the chapter’s 27 members took part in the proclamation ceremony.
Chadron High had an FBLA chapter in the 1970s and 80s, but it had gone dormant by the time Noble was hired as a teacher in 1991.
She told the council resurrecting the chapter was one of the prime directives she was given and she was able to accomplish it the next year – and she’s been the advisor ever since.