News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Putnam County Fiscal Review Committee helped Cookeville’s proposed hotel and conference center project move forward Monday night.
The committee voted to let County Executive Randy Porter sign documents allowing tax increment financing for the project.
“They are proposing to build a new five story parking garage, 317 spaces, that’s going to cost a little over $7 million,” Porter said. “The TIF that we’re looking at doing would go strictly to that parking garage. Not the hotel and the convention center.”
Porter said the TIF would be used to finance the parking garage over a 20-year period.
Cookeville City Council must also approve the TIF for the project. The Industrial Development Board voted for the plan last week.
Porter said the proposal is about much more than generating tax revenue.
“When you think of the new jobs it’ll bring in, it’s estimated between 60 and 100,” Porter said. “It’d boost tourism. As we know, we’re a tourist attraction now because of all the natural resources we have with our waterfalls and our parks. People come to this area for those natural resources.”
The financing plan takes the difference between current property taxes and the new projected amount once the project is completed.
The proposed facility would be built along Depot Street and Cedar Avenue.
Currently, the county collects $34,600 on property taxes within the proposed location. Once completed, the complex and conference center would generate approximately $327,600 in tax revenue, with $293,000 going to the IDB over the 20-year period.
Porter said the hotel and conference center cannot be built without the parking garage along with it.
Early projections predict the complex will generate $475,000 in additional tax revenue. Of the tax revenue, $310,000 would come from the hotel-motel tax alone. The rest would come via sales tax on rooms, retail, and a possible restaurant.
The full County Commission will need to approve the plan during next Monday’s meeting.
