Pekin's hotels have improved their chances of luring participants in area events to town for overnight accommodations.
Agreeing with a policy proposed by the city's tourism committee, the Pekin City Council on Monday approved giving city hotels as much as $15 per room per night to help cover fees charged by third-party companies that handle housing responsibilities for events.
These companies list area hotels where event participants can or often must stay.
Funding for Pekin's policy will come from revenue generated by the city's 7% hotel/motel tax. The revenue can only be used for tourism activities or to attract non-resident visitors for overnight stays, according to state regulations.
"This policy does not take money from our general fund or from taxpayers," said council member John Abel. "It helps put heads in beds, which is good for the city."
Cindy Galyean, a tourism committee member and general manager of the Hampton Inn & Suites since it opened in 2020, brought concerns about the third-party fees that a hotel must pay to be listed as a housing option for an event to the committee.
"The third-party trend has really picked up in the last year or year and a half," she said. "These companies are hired mainly by the organizers of sports events so they can get housing off their plate. Plus, the organizers get money from the (fees)."
Here are the other specifics of Pekin's policy:
- Funding cannot be used for an event that books less than 10 room nights.
- No hotel can receive more than 50% of the money available in a fiscal year.
- Funding will not be granted to a hotel that's delinquent in the payment of taxes or fees, or is not in good standing with the city.
"This policy will help us compete with hotels in East Peoria and Peoria when events are held there," Galyean said. "I think participants in events in those cities will be willing to drive a little while to save $20 or $30 per night on a hotel room."
Galyean said the fees generally fall in the $10 to $27 range.
Josh Wray, Pekin's economic development director, said event participants who stay in Pekin usually add to the city's sales tax revenue because they eat, shop and buy gas in town.
Pekin has five hotels. The Hampton Inn & Suites is the largest with 88 rooms. The city has about 240 total hotel rooms.
The policy was approved 6-1, with council member Rick Hilst casting the dissenting vote.
Emergency fire spending, salary study approved
Also Monday, the council approved:
- An emergency expenditure of $16,286 by the Pekin Fire Department for the installation and programming of Starcom radio equipment after the department was informed in the fall that its existing radio system was at the end of its life and had the potential to fail at any time. Supreme Radio Communications of Peoria Heights did the work.
- An agreement with MGT of America Consulting (formerly GovHR) of Tampa, Fla., to do an analysis of the city's 42 non-union job positions that includes updated/new job descriptions and salary range recommendations based on market data. The cost of $28,830 for the analysis may be lower if the number of job descriptions that need to be reviewed is less than 42. Each job description is $250. Human Resources Director Shelly Costa said the city's last salary study was done in 2013, and it's recommended that's done every seven years.
- A residential TIF agreement with Robert and Kimberly Stanley, who recently closed on a property at 1919 Velde Drive and will build a $390,895 home there. The Stanleys will receive up to $40,000 in property tax rebates over 10 years for TIF-eligible expenses.
- The purchase of property at McDonald's, 1013 Court Street, that's needed for the next phases of the Court Street reconstruction project. The city needs the strip of land to construct wider sidewalks. The city offered McDonald's $22,195 for the land, which the owner accepted. That was the appraised value of the land.
- A five-year lease renewal with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for land in the Pekin Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area along North Eighth Street (Illinois Route 29) on which a "Welcome to Pekin" sign is located. The city mows the land and is not charged by the state for the lease.
- Updates to the city's policies regarding contributions to the police and fire pension funds that give the council the ability to change the amount of funding that's recommended during the annual budget adoption process.
- An ordinance that rejects the lone bid of $1.28 million for the removal and replacement of underground fuel storage tanks at the Pekin Municipal Airport. The approximately 60-year-old single-wall tanks that were lined about 30 years ago are at the end of their life. The city received a Rebuild Illinois Act grant to remove and replace the tanks with above-ground double-wall tanks. The lone bid for the project was much higher than an engineers' estimate. Airport Manager Mike Cruce said the project will be separated into removal and replacement in the next bidding round.
Each council vote on these items was unanimous except for the MGT and TIF agreements. The MGT vote was 4-3 with Dave Nutter, Hilst and Orrick dissenting and the TIF vote was 6-1 with Hilst dissenting.
'Nobody told me to stay home and miss the council meeting'
Council member Chris Onken and City Engineer Josie Esker each spoke at the end of Monday's four-hour meeting.
Onken responded to accusations made against him by Pekin resident John McNish during public comment regarding Onken's absence from the Dec. 9 council meeting.
Council voted 3-3 that night on a proposal to put a non-binding referendum on the April 1 ballot asking residents if the city should enact its own 1% grocery tax to make up for the future elimination of the state's 1% grocery tax and the resultant revenue loss for the city. The state's grocery tax will be eliminated Jan. 1, 2026.
The council's tie vote meant the referendum proposal failed. The city enacted its own 1% grocery tax in a 4-3 vote on Nov. 13, with Onken voting in favor.
"I had a work commitment (Dec. 9)," said Onken, who is on the Pekin Community High School girls basketball coaching staff.
"Nobody told me to stay home and miss the council meeting. And I wasn't afraid to vote on this issue because I thought it might impact my campaign (for council)," Onken said, addressing McNish's comments.
"I would have voted no for the referendum proposal. The loss of revenue from the state's 1% grocery tax would have created a $1.5 to $1.7 million hit on our budget. And this isn't a new tax.
"If voters don't think I'm doing my job on the council and I'm not elected, I can live with that."
Onken is one of six candidates for three open council seats in the April 1 election.
In answer to a question from Hilst, Esker said the sometimes troublesome timing of new traffic signals at the intersections of Court Street and Allentown Road and Court and Parkway Drive is temporary while the city waits for Ameren to provide power for timing sensors.
Payments questioned, but none are mentioned
The city's accounts payable list was approved 4-3 after it was pulled off the consent agenda by Hilst because he had concerns about several payments.
Nutter agreed with Hilst. "There's a lot of stuff in there that needs to be investigated," he said.
No payments were mentioned. Hilst, Nutter and Orrick cast the no votes.
Bicentennial Committee will be honored at State of the City address
Mayor Mary Burress announced that she will deliver her second State of the City address Jan. 28 at the Pekin Public Library.
A proclamation from U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood will be presented by LaHood to the Pekin Bicentennial Committee during the 7:30-9 a.m. event, Burress said.