Column: "Sauntering": Let's just do away with local taxes

Here's a thought - let's do completely away with the CAPC tax and all the other local taxes. Let's disband the City Advertising and Promotion Commission (CAPC).

We can go ahead and run the advertising that is already produced and in place, but let's cancel all the other contracts.

We all know that the only REAL way people hear about what a great place Eureka Springs is to visit is by "word of mouth." That's what all the surveys tell us, so let's stop spending those big bucks on pretty pictures and information.

For those who came to the city council meeting last week to protest the expansion of the tax collectors and who threatened the council with a revolution, let's just shut it all down.

No more worries. No more noisy tourists. No more taxes. We can all enjoy our sleepy little Victorian village.

After all, without those pesky tourists, we wouldn't need a dozen people on the police force. We would only need, say, three or four officers in two patrol vehicles to keep us safe.

We wouldn't need so many fire trucks or ambulances or EMTS or firefighters either. Could save a whole lot of money that way.

Of course, our homeowners' insurance would skyrocket if all we have is garden hoses to fight fires. But insurance rates are not city rates, those are set by people in big cities somewhere else.

If the state would let us, we could let the funeral home owners go back to operating the ambulance service. But wait, the local funeral home is a branch of a larger company in Berryville. That might not be convenient for those of us in the Western District of Carroll County.

Without those pesky tourists, we could drop our water and sewer rates back to "reasonable" levels and not worry about improving the drinking water distribution or stinky water collection system.

We wouldn't have to worry about maintaining our streets. With only the traffic of 2,000 or so people, we won't be wearing out the streets so fast.

And we could go back to burning our trash in the street and throwing our bottles and cans into a hole in the ground in the back yard.

We could shut the auditorium down and only use it for school Christmas plays and graduations, like we used to. I don't know if the basement floor is still strong enough for square dances or roller skating, but it probably is.

If we aren't going to worry any more about tourists coming to visit, the owners of 17 antique shops, 98 gift shops, 45 bed and breakfasts, 44 tourist lodgings, 52 hotels and motels and 82 restaurants can just take their businesses somewhere else where they can make money hand over fist, without having to advertise collectively or individually, and not have to worry about collecting those bothersome CAPC taxes.

But then again, they might have to be open for business 365 days a year and have three or four times the competition for the same amount of dollars someplace else.

Actually, we might need one of each category to remain in business so we could be considered a "cute little town."

As of March 12, there were 933 businesses licenses on the city's books. That is waaaaaay toooo many businesses for a town of 2,000.

The suggestion that any one of the businesses in this town is not tourism-related is absolute bushwahhh.

Every business in this town that collects $1 for any goods or services from someone who doesn't live here is in the tourism-related business - that includes grocery stores, book stores, antique shops, trinket shops, art galleries, convenience stores, and and and....

The state has set sales tax exemptions for some of these businesses - groceries and health care, for instance - to keep costs a low as possible.

Listening to hotel and motel owners complain about high water rates makes my ears hurt. Their customers use the most water, why shouldn't they pay the highest rates?

What about the three or four months a year most of the motels are closed? Isn't there some average over the entire year that makes paying the bills easier?

In most cities, hotel and larger commercial water users are paying triple or quadruple what residential customers pay for water.

They also pay enormous fees per toilet or tub when they get ready to build a motel.

People who come to Eureka Springs to be in the motel, gift shop or restaurant business come here for the business, not the ambiance, the natural beauty or the wonderful Victorian homes.

They come here because they see opportunity to make money. If they can't make enough money, they go away and someone else comes along to take their place. That is the way it works here and in every other tourism destination in the WORLD.

The screaming that the advertising the CAPC does is "no good" is just ridiculous. If nothing else, the CAPC keeps the name of Eureka Springs before the public, at least within a 500-mile or five-hour driving distance.

For those of you who cannot see how the tourism and travel industry has changed in the past 10 years, I don't know what to say.

There are millions more people making travel decisions, thousands more places to visit, hundreds of destinations that cater to families, particularly children, hundreds of festivals and concerts to capture a potential traveler's attention.

Eureka Springs ain't the only game in the region any more.

We can put the advertising out there, but it is still the individual's choice about what to do with his or her time and money. There is no way we can force people to visit our lovely village.

We can only make ourselves available in an attractive, safe, clean and hospitable manner if we want visitors to come.

If we really don't want visitors to come, then shut it ALL down.

P.S. When I used to come here as a tourist long ago, the one place I chose to spend my vacation money was in Gazebo Book Store because they always had cool books.

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Column: "Sauntering": Let's just do away with local taxes

Here's a thought - let's do completely away with the CAPC tax and all the other local taxes. Let's disband the City Advertising and Promotion Commission (CAPC).