Do we know who is running vs. Mayor Miller yet? Same with the Commissioners... who is running against the incumbants?

Traveling Man wrote:

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Do we know who is running vs. Mayor Miller yet? Same with the Commissioners... who is running against the incumbants?

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I read where Willard McBurney has announced he is running for Mayor, and he will make a great mayor. He appears to be a guy who isn't in it for the so-called "glory" or his ego.  I get the impression he will do what is best for all people in the area.

what do you mean by power brokers? the pay you get for the headaches doesnt equal out. these men are voted in by the voters to make the decisions we agree and disagree with. before judging them, say a prayer for them. remember the voters pulled the lever

It's time for a change - a big change - in Corbin. We, the people, are losing our town to a small group of money hungry, self-interest individuals. Remember that when voting time comes along.

Why should the current administration be voted out?  It seems as if everything is running smoothly as is.  Do you have a better plan?

Don't assume things are being done incorrectly unless you have a better plan.  It looks as though things are looking brighter with this administration, especially since a state of the art technology center is now located here and a top-notch civic center is in the works...what do you want?  The financial woes of the past take a little time to get worked through and I am sure that your elected officials are doing what they can to correct/make changes for the betterment of Corbinites.

Get involved in your community and support those in charge.  A lot of people in Corbin don't get all the facts about things before making assumptions, pointing fingers and judging others.  As we all well know, from happenings being exploited/distorted in the media, that things are not always what they seem.

Yes, you are right. I've learned my lesson from the past two years.

The restaurant tax will generate 75% - 80% if it's revenue from non-Corbin residents. Travelers along the I-75 corridor - from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia and other states and regions will generate the majority of tax revenue.  For Corbin residents, if you eat dinner at The Depot for example, your $20 dinner would now cost $20.60 - very little impact on the local economy.

I agree with you completely in that taxes for the sake of taxes, without the right people in place to determine how the tax revenue can best serve the people of Corbin, is an enormous rip-off. Let's make sure we vote people into local government that take into account the best interests of Corbin's citizens when they make these decisions.

Anonymous wrote:

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The restaurant tax will generate 75% - 80% if it's revenue from non-Corbin residents. Travelers along the I-75 corridor - from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia and other states and regions will generate the majority of tax revenue.  For Corbin residents, if you eat dinner at The Depot for example, your $20 dinner would now cost $20.60 - very little impact on the local economy.
I agree with you completely in that taxes for the sake of taxes, without the right people in place to determine how the tax revenue can best serve the people of Corbin, is an enormous rip-off. Let's make sure we vote people into local government that take into account the best interests of Corbin's citizens when they make these decisions.

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Good to see the restaurant tax was finally passed at yesterday's commissioner's meeting. Now this tax revenue needs to be utilized responsibly, and I am confident it will be, by Tourism.

Again, read this post from a week or so ago. The majority of the tax revenues will come from people who reside outside of the Corbin area, and will have very little impact on the local economy.

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The restaurant tax will generate 75% - 80% if it's revenue from non-Corbin residents. Travelers along the I-75 corridor - from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia and other states and regions will generate the majority of tax revenue.  For Corbin residents, if you eat dinner at The Depot for example, your $20 dinner would now cost $20.60 - very little impact on the local economy.

I agree with you completely in that taxes for the sake of taxes, without the right people in place to determine how the tax revenue can best serve the people of Corbin, is an enormous rip-off. Let's make sure we vote people into local government that take into account the best interests of Corbin's citizens when they make these decisions.

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Anonymous wrote:

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This Tax is nothing more than a Subsidy for the New Center this is in FACT scheduled to operate at a loss "FACT". If the New Center is similar to the current Technology Ctr that is NEVER used you'll need alot more than 3% to subsidize the loss! Look at Knox County "Just give us a Paroll Tax and we will Balance the Budget" We'llllllllllllllllllllllllllllll was the Budget Balanced??? Whitley County is 19.5 Million dollars in Debt, "Just pass the Payroll Tax we were told" It will now take not 1% but 5% to 10% to get this mess under control. Folks beware of these forked tongued politicians, when your subsidizing something that is scheduled to lose money BEWARE!!!!!

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You can't compare the "restaurant tax" to a "payroll tax" - that is, unless you spend every dollar you earn at a restaurant. Again, as has been mentioned in two previous postings, the restaurant tax will bring in 75-80% of it's revenue from people OUTSIDE of Corbin, and will have ZERO impact on the local economy. A payroll tax taxes every dollar you earn - a restaurant tax taxes every dollar you spend at a restaurant - not spent at a grocery store, not spent at the movies, not spent at Kmart - but only at a restaurant - a very, very different type of tax.

Again, if you go to Buckner's and spend $7 for lunch, it will now cost you $7.21.

Corbin Tourism will take in tax money from people traveling from Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee, and from all over the Midwest that travel I-75 and stop to eat at our restaurants - a far greater number of travelers eat at our restaurants than Corbin residents. 42,000 vehicles pass by the two Corbin exits everyday.

Do you now understand the benefit? No, I'm not a politician putting their spin on it, just someone who checks their facts before reaching a conclusion or posting a comment

Anonymous wrote:

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You keep babbling about I-75 and how this TAX will be paid by outsiders, The Majority of Eating Establishments are NOT on I-75, only 3-4. Your trying to use this half truth in all your postings. People are NOT going to leave the Interstate and drive to downtown corbin or the trademart where 75% of these establishments are.
Your selling point here has been shot full of holes, what is your excuse now for the downtown establishments??? Who will pay their part of this? I'll help you out some: WE WILL, the people of Corbin!
You also did NOT address the subsidy part of this little venture or the Fact that the current Tech ctr is empty 90% of the time and the FACT that this new Center will LOSE money. This is NOT Lexington Or Knoxville and the jobs base and tax base is not here, at least yet.
I'll gaurantee your either a Politician or Someone who has a financial interest in this little venture. You don't care about the Massive overall Tax burden on our people, just yourself.
That's why your trying to trick folks with this I-75 Pyscho-Babble when you KNOW the majority of Rest are NOT on I-75.

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Lets talk about half-truths and shooting your story full of holes -

You state "You keep babbling about I-75 and how this TAX will be paid by outsiders, The Majority of Eating Establishments are NOT on I-75, only 3-4".

Maybe you should take a drive one day and check out your city. There is Buckner's, El Dorado, O'Malley's, Burger King, McDonald's, Wendy's, Arby's, Subway, Waffle House, The Chinese Restaurant, and soon there will be several new restaurants at the South Exit.

Also, while the "majority" of the restaurants might not all be on I-75, the I-75 restaurants do the MAJORITY OF THE BUSINESS, buy a long shot. Again, 42,000 VEHICLES pass the Corbin exits EVERY DAY. Only a fraction of that passes downtown restaurants on a daily basis.

You also state "People are NOT going to leave the Interstate and drive to downtown Corbin or the trademart where 75% of these establishments are."

75% of the restaurants are downtown or Trademart? Also, the last time I checked, none of the Downtown restaurants that you speak of are even open on Sunday, the two major restaurants are not even open for lunch (the Depot and Vintage House are only open for dinner), The Root Beer Stand is only open half of the year - where as most (if not all all) of the I-75 restaurants are open 7 days a week, and two of them are open 24 hours a day.

You are also assuming that everyone that dines at The Depot and Vintage House are from Corbin. A decent percentage of the patrons at these two restaurants come from outside Corbin - Williamsburg, Barbourville, Somerset, Middlesboro, and other surrounding cities that are not fortunate enough to have the fine restaurants we do. There are also people who stay at the I-75 Hotels (both north and south exits) who are directed to these two restaurants by the hotels when asked about the better places to dine in the area. I was at a comedy show at the Depot one night when the comedian asked the audience to raise their hands if they were from Corbin - only 9 out of 60+ pepole were from Corbin, the rest were from Pineville, Richmond, Hazard and other locations.

The fact is, whether you want to believe it or not, 75% or more of this tax will be paid by people outside of Corbin.

I also don't understand your comment "You also did NOT address the subsidy part of this little venture". What "subsidy" are you talking about?


Sincerely,

Pyscho-Babble

Let me weigh in on this, very good points here both ways. The TAX is final so everything here is after the fact.

1. First point is when I hear SOMEONE else will pay a tax for you then take a long look, The Someone else is us.

2. If you think Burger King & McDonalds and a few more of these small Rest will generate a massive amount of money then think again, all Corbin Est are and will be tax'd. Maybe a good thing but that's too be determined by future actions and what this money will be used for.

3. My last point here is the WHAT, "What is this Money going to used for"? Is the New Center really projected to lose Money??? If that is even partially true then is this 3% Rest Tax going to be really used as a Subsidy to keep this new cent er going???????????

We all understand the math but the "What" and where the money is going is my concern, no such thing as other folks paying for something we need. Sure the I-75 traffic will pay for some of this tax but not 75%.

I do hear thru the Grapevine that this money really will subsidize the losses the new center is scheduled to lose. That makes me nervous!

Anonymous wrote:

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OK Mr. Psycho Babble The guy posting is correct, you have NOT explained WHAT the 3% is going for??????? I'll wait for your response. The subsidy I speak of is the money that WILL have to be paid to support the new Center which WILL operate at a loss. This is a FACT which the Company hired to do the asessement came up with. They will lose anywhere from 150,000 Dollars to a Half Million over the next 2-5 years. Has this tax been created to support this, you can expalain this when you tell ALL of us here WHERE this 3% will go? Now a couple of points: I was also at the Comedy Club a few weeks ago and the by far the number of folks there were local. It does vary from time to time. I also know the owner of this Establishment and he said claerly 80% of his overall "FOOD" business is Corbin Residents. I have been on the South End Many times, you keep stating 42,000 vehicles, where did this number come from? The Ky Transportation Dept juyst told us that figure was only on two peek days and that Figure was MUCH lower the other five days. Your also assuming ALL 42K will stop? How many will stop? Where and how are you calculating these numbers? Tell the truth here, these are only Guess's based off a study. You say the south interchange does 75% of the Rest Business in Corbin? That's not what the Owners of the Trademart and Downtown Corbin say, they do a very good business on the South End but NOT 75%

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Hey, thanks for spelling my name right.

If you still don't believe that most of the tax revenue will come from non-Corbin residents, here is a quote in the 2/15 Times-Tribune from Randy Smith, McDonald's Area Supervisor -

“We have 30,000 customers a week visit the three Corbin (McDonald's) total, and the majority of them are from out of state or out of town,” Smith said. “Most people paying the tax do not live in Corbin and they don't care. I doubt if out of 100,000 customers one says anything.”

That's 30,000 per week, and that is only McDonalds.

I'll wait for your next post to compare average daily sales revenue and customer traffic, average take per customer, major differences in hours of operation, etc. Don't assume that the Depot surpasses or even matches 1 McDonalds location in sales revenue. The Depot only operates 40 to 45 hours per week, open generally from 4-10 or 10:30 M-TH, 4pm - 11 or 12pm Friday and Saturday, and are closed on Sunday. The Vintage House operates only 30 hours per week. The South exit McDonalds operates 168 hours per week, Buckner's 85 Hours, O'Malleys 85 Hours, El Dorado 85 Hours, and so on.

The traffic statistics come from the Kentucky Division of Planning's CTS Database, which utilizes actual counts.

Regarding where the money will go, as Kentucky State Law dictates, the revenues generated by the a restaurant tax must be used for tourism related projects, with the revenue earmarked for the local tourism commissions. Cities receive no revenue even though they are the ones who must enact the tax and accept responsibility.

In other words, the Corbin Tourism Commission ultimately decides. The tax revenue can go for specific tourism related projects outlined by the state laws (an example is the Williamsburg Water Park, built in part by Williamsburg's restaurant tax revenues - not a huge success either.) The rumors you hear, who knows if they are true or not true. I suggest you attend the Tourism meetings and voice your opinion. I have faith in the current tourism board members that they will do the right thing with these resources, but people need to attend the meetings and voice their opinions.

PB