Joplin approves PrideFest funding, adds new fee for data centers

Joplin’s City Council approved $163,300 in tourism grants Tuesday after a heated debate over funding PrideFest and questions about whether the city can reliably measure what its hotel tax dollars produce.

The package includes $12,700 for JOMO PrideFest. It passed 8-0, with Councilman Eli Moran abstaining because his family operates a business receiving funding.

Resident Joshua Boothe urged the council to leave PrideFest’s financial support to private donors and sponsors. He said he was not asking the city to cancel the festival or restrict anyone’s right to assemble.

“If people want to support PrideFest, let them support it. If businesses want to sponsor it, let them sponsor it,” Boothe said. “But I don’t believe that the city government needs to be a sponsor of this event.”

JOMO Pride founder and chairman Ron Burch said tourism grants have helped the festival expand its audience and bring more visitors to Joplin.

“It’s allowed us to grow the event each year. We’ve booked bigger artists, increased our production value, and also increased our marketing outreach,” Burch said.

Burch reported about 1,000 attendees and 10 tracked hotel rooms in 2018, compared with more than 3,300 attendees and just over 70 tracked rooms last year.

Responding to a question from Councilman Ryan Jackson, Burch said grant-funded performances take place on the festival’s public main stage. Entertainment at private venues is funded separately.

“None of the grant funds are ever used to book any talent in those venues,” Burch said.

The grants are funded entirely through hotel and motel taxes, rather than the city’s general fund.

Applicants are evaluated on factors including visitor draw, overnight stays, growth potential and the timing of their events.

Councilman Brian Cowles questioned whether the awards consistently reflect the economic benefits.

“It’s not about whether I agree or disagree with Jomo Pride. It’s about whether we’re getting the best return for hotel tax dollars,” Cowles said.

He compared PrideFest’s projected 90 to 100 hotel room nights with more than 1,500 previously reported for a baseball event recommended for a smaller grant.

Cowles asked whether the city could obtain more accurate information about visitors and hotel stays.

Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Patrick Tuttle acknowledged the limitations of the available data.

“We work closely with the hotels trying to get there,” Tuttle said. “And even them, it’s not 100% accurate.”

Tuttle said hotel representatives help evaluate applications and sometimes believe organizers undercount their impact.

He also said the baseball event’s allocation remained subject to further review because of a management change.

Council members also unanimously approved a $1,000 annual business license fee for data centers, effective Jan. 1.

Finance Director Leslie Haase said Joplin currently has no business license classification specifically for those facilities.

“So this item adds a business license fee for data centers to help recover the related cost,” Haase said.

Jackson asked whether state law limits how much the city can charge. Haase said the city must follow the Hancock Amendment’s restrictions and recover its costs.

The measure creates a licensing category and annual charge. It does not authorize a particular data center project or change where facilities can operate.

The fee was included in a broader revision of business licensing as the city prepares to offer an online application option. Several existing fees based on employee counts, seating capacity and other measures will become flat charges.

Council members also unanimously approved a $300 fee for overseeing utility repairs to city streets, beginning Jan. 1.

Haase said utility companies already pay for repairing the pavement, but the city has not charged separately for the inspections, administration and billing involved.

Staff calculated those costs at about $309 per repair.