Baxter City Council Discusses Where Lodging Tax Funds Should Go to Promote Area

The Baxter City Council discussed where tax dollars from the lodging tax should go to promote Brainerd and Baxter in a work session last week.

The lodging tax is charged to people who stay in hotels in Brainerd and Baxter, with the majority of hotels being in Baxter. Currently, 95% of the tax dollars go to Visit Brainerd to promote the area as a destination to boost tourism, and the remaining 5% goes to Baxter for administering the tax.

City Council Member Jeff Phillips would like to see the city have more influence on how those tax dollars are spent to market the area.

“I’m not trying to rebrand the area into Visit Baxter, that’s not my intent,” said Phillips. “I understand the value of marketing the area, but that is a lot of Baxter tax dollars that could be used to directly benefit the city of Baxter. And I think a marketing drive for working with small business … there’s a lot of options out there. I think that’s how it should be done.”

Baxter Mayor Darrel Olson said that he was not in favor of hiring another city employee. City staff will continue researching the matter before presenting a possible resolution to the city council.