June 1 is Around the Corner

One month from today will be the 11th anniversary of the Hamilton County stadium tax. This is the tax that was used to fund the building of the two stadiums on the river. As usual, our politicians over promised and under delivered. It has not revitalized Downtown, sales for the county are still flat (whereas neighboring counties are growing), and the Riverfront is still pretty useless.

Over the past two years, I have asked the question to people involved with local government, and people who were around Cincinnati in 1970 if there was a tax hike to help pay for the construction of the old Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field. It is shocking to see that nobody knows. If there was a tax hike to pay for the stadium construction, should there have been a tax cut after the debt was paid off in 1996? Or after the stadium was destroyed in 2002? Nobody seems to remember.

On June 1, 1996, Hamilton County imposed a 0.5% sales tax hike to build those stadiums. We were originally told the debt would be retired in 30 years. As of last year, it looks like it will be retired in 32 years, if the local economy takes off. Let's not forget this tax, and let's not let it be permanent.