DaytonDailyNews.com

A proposal to allow Montgomery County to pay for an Austin Pike arena with an increase in the lodgings tax is dead for the year, and the local legislator who put it before the Ohio House said he is was embarrassed by the disarray among local officials regarding the issue.

"I was frustrated because I had gone through a lot to get it worked out at the state level and then have it fall apart," said Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering.

Local officials say interchange development will occur, regardless. But they say a hockey arena and events center likely will not happen without public financing, and the community could lose a chance to develop a unique "destination" when the state builds an interchange at I-75 and Austin Pike in southern Montgomery County starting next year. They hope to attract high technology businesses, and use the events center to draw people — and sales tax revenue — north from the Cincinnati area.

"All of these stadiums and arenas all over the county have had some kind of public financing," said Montgomery County Administrator Deborah Feldman. "I think it makes it a much more difficult project to achieve because we would not have that source of public funding."

The House passed the bill on Wednesday after concerns raised by Dayton Democratic legislators were allayed, but frantic efforts to gain support in the Senate failed on Thursday, Dec. 18. Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, said his members were concerned about increasing "even a permissive tax" and he didn't learn until late in the day that disagreement among local officials had been worked out.

"I said it was too late," Harris said.

State Sen. Tom Roberts, D-Dayton, said he's not sure why Harris was not told sooner, but he said "we still have a chance to bring it up at a later date."

The bill would have allowed the county commission to increase the hotel-motel tax by up to 4 percent, raising about $3.2 million annually. The increase, combined with the existing 6 percent lodgings tax and 7 percent sales tax, would have placed a 17 percent tax on Dayton-area hotel patrons. That would have tied with Cincinnati and Houston for second highest in the country.

Montgomery County Commissioners quietly sought Husted's support two months ago, and he thought they'd done their homework in gaining critical support from Dayton officials and others. Feldman said they wanted to get it passed before Husted left his job as House speaker to become a 6th district senator.

She emphasized that there would be much public discussion, and a serious look at the financing options, before commission would approve the tax. Feldman also said it is important to remember what the stakes are.

"Those companies are going to locate between Dayton and Cincinnati," she said. "They can go down to Mason. They can go to Union Center. They can go to Middletown. Our goal with Austin has always been to recapture some of that growth in Montgomery County."

Consultants estimate that development of the interchange and surrounding area could bring 21,000 jobs in 15 to 20 years, Feldman said. The arena would cost $60 million to $100 million.

Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin withdrew her opposition to the tax and adopted a neutral stance after meeting with county officials. "We just needed some more conversation and understanding of what it was about," McLin said.

She said she supports the Austin Pike interchange development, but wants to make sure nothing hurts the city or region.

Husted said the interchange is the county's best chance to see much needed growth in jobs and sales tax revenues.

"We have been trying to make downtown a destination site my whole life that I've been here and it gets worse and worse and worse, because people don't want to go there," Husted said.

McLin disagreed with Husted's characterization, pointing to a variety of downtown entertainment options and the new CareSource headquarters.

"While Mr. Husted sounds like he has written off the heart of our community, I assure you the rest of us haven't," McLin said. "I would like to encourage Mr. Husted to come downtown when he's home to see and experience what downtown has to offer."