Posted on 02/16/2002 8:51:11 PM PST by lonestar
SILSBEE TX- Rodney Barefield remembers helping guests at the Pinewood Inn before his head reached the stomach-high counter. He would perch on a stool to greet them eye-to-eye.
He's now helping his mother run the 40-year-old business, but he's not sure how much longer the 48-room motel will keep its doors open.
A 7 percent hotel/motel tourism tax - which was adopted in July 2000, but not enforced until April 2001 - has been cutting into company profits.
Taxes account for 13 percent of the Barefield's income, 7 percent to Silsbee and 6 percent to the state.
Helen Barefield, Rodney's mother and partner, said the motel costs about $120,000 a year to operate.
Although officials believe tourists are paying the tax, the Barefields said that's not true.
Most customers are construction workers in town for company projects. Rodney Barefield does not believe the hard-workers should pay a tax intended for pleasure-seekers.
Not that any customers pick up the taxes.
The Barefields pay the tax because they cannot afford to hike room prices. Competition with a hotel outside city limits, which was not hit with the tax, forced the Barefields to lower rates.
In the past few years, the cheapest room at the Pinewood Inn dropped from $42.92 to $35.95.
The Barefields also complain that Beaumont, a town much larger than Silsbee, has the same 7 percent city tax rate.
"How they compare this town to Beaumont I have no idea," Rodney Barefield said.
Silsbee attracted 25 residents between 1990 and 2000, according to census numbers.
"The city has used the same population sign since I was riding my bike up the street," Rodney Barefield said. "It's dying. The city is dying."
Silsbee Mayor Dean Robinson believes the motel tax will help revive the city and lure tourists.
Robinson said much money collected will funnel into renovations for the Icehouse Museum. Additional funds go toward the annual Cruise in Silsbee, which attracts about 3,000 to 4,000 people, Robinson said.
City Manager Ricky Jorgensen said the tax has brought in about $10,000 since the city began collecting in April 2001. The Pinewood Inn and the Budget Motel pay the tax. The 96 Motel, beyond city limits, does not pay the tax.
Robinson said the tax will help the city, but it won't change overnight.
The Barefields hope it happens fast.
Last year the Barefields didn't pay federal income taxes because they did not make a profit, Helen Barefield said.
Do you enjoy watching trees grow? lol
Seriously, I bet a "tourist" has never "gone to Silsbee."
Of course, Silsbee COULD incorporate the land where the 96 Motel sits, thereby making them a part of the city tax as well as the tourist tax.....
Dean (the mayor) told me that there are people from all over the region who come to Silsbee so they can visit the Big Thicket and bird watch.....as he told me this my head was about to explode from the fumes from the paper mill over in Evadale.....LOL
Silsbee is a nice little town....my business has a location there so i support economic developement initatives but......Silsbee will never be a tourist "mecca".....
If you could see that sucker!!!! FLEA BAG run by ragheads!!!!! Years ago you could drive by at night and some of the porch lights in front of the rooms would be RED!!!!! The other thing is it's even closer to the paper mill.....ohhhhh the smell!!!!! LOL The land out that way woulod cost more to administrate than the taxes it would bring in!!!!!
My little west Texas town used the "incorporation" trick to continually add more and more property and people to the tax roles, and actually dropped our tax rate from over $1.00 to less the $ .50 in a ten year period...well, that and good management....
I doubt you will find that in many cities across the US...
Now, let's talk about you yelling at me in front of all these people, and us being newlyweds and all..... (lol)
Tourisim though....is not the answer!!!
I never associated Silsbee with the "Big Thicket." Kountz, yes; Silsbee, no.
I feel sorry for those little towns in Texas - they are losing their young people to more exciting places, no job opportunities to offer, and no real reason for anyone to come through and spend money..... and my experience with small town Mayors, is that they usually are very nice, and very concerned for their towns...
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