Junction City Mayor Jeff Underhill and City Manager Allen Dinkel Monday to outline an idea that would establish a City transient guest tax and leave the County with a bed tax only for Grandview Plaza and Milford. Under this plan the convention and visitor's bureau would also come under Chamber of Commerce auspices once again, instead of being a separate organization."What we talked about was them dissolving their transient guest tax and us being able to implement our own in the city that we would be able to utilize and we would operate the CVB at that point. I personally am a fan of consolidation so we would put that back under the Chamber of Commerce where it was successful, said Underhill. He noted that the County would be able to do their own bed tax for Grandview Plaza and Milford, and free up some of their levied taxes on citizens. That money could be used for support of organizations such as the economic development commission and military affairs council. Any new TGT for Junction City would not apply to Grandview Plaza or Milford.The current Geary County transient guest tax rate is 6%. The suggestion outlined Monday would put the Junction City transient guest tax rate in the 6-and-a-half to 8-and-a-half percent range. Dinkel added now with the vacancy in the CVB director position there is time to look at options. County Commissioners Trish Giordano and Keith Ascher were at first glance opposed to the new bed tax idea. "I definitely want to look at all the options but I am not in favor of that right at this moment. With the reorganization of the CVB we can all get on the same page and take care of the whole entire county, said Giordano. " Ascher noted that his fear is that if the percentage of transient guest tax is raised Geary County could lose out to other communities, and keeping it lower is most competitive. Dinkel disagreed noting that other cities in the area have a higher percentage but Ascher said he thought it would put Geary County at a disadvantage by raising it.No final action was taken Monday.

City bed tax idea goes to the County Commission