ALEDO, Ill. — It's a win for one small business after the Aledo Ordinance and Police Committee decided Thursday to not move forward with a proposed ordinance imposing a hotel tax within the city.
The city was exploring implementing a tax on overnight rentals at hotels, motels and short-term rentals. Under Illinois state statute, the city could tax up to 5%.
It was unwelcome news to the city's only motel owner.
"I had heard from a guest of ours that was staying here," said Josh Hajostek, the owner of the Blue Spruce Lodge. "I had no idea."
He and his wife have owned the 10-room motel for the last six years, taking it over from family who owned it for at least 15 years before.
It's hard to say how many guests the motel has on average, but Hajostek said they stay busy during the summer and a lot of hunters stay there during the hunting season.
"In the winter it's pretty dead around here. Not a lot of people traveling when it's under 40°," he said. "Utilities pretty much double in the winter. They've increased here in the past few years. We have to save a lot just to keep this business going."
Hajostek was concerned an added expense would hurt the business.
"I wanted to make sure there isn't any misconceptions that this is a tax on your business directly," council member Michael Chausse told Hajostek during the committee meeting.
But Hajostek doesn't want to pass the tax on to his guests. He charges a flat rate fee of $70 for a one-bed room and $80 for a two-bed room, and he would have to increase that charge with the new tax.
"It'll just be another expense, another expense that we'll have to take care of," Hajostek said. "Eventually, it probably would have to be passed on to our guests depending on how things go. People like it here because of how low our cost is."
Under state statutes, the city can only use the money from the tax for travel and tourism.
"We've got a lot of development going on in the city here and there may be some overnight stays that come out of those investments, so this seemed like the proper time to go over and talk about it," Finance Director Cindy Parchet said.
Mayor Chris Hagloch pointed out that adding money to the budget for tourism and events could draw in more guests for the Blue Spruce Lodge.
After discussing the ordinance, council member Barry Cooper said he didn't think not having the extra revenue would "break the city."
"Can't we just float that for another year and see what happens," he asked.
Linda Sarabasa agreed saying, "I don't think this is the right time."
Since no committee member motioned to move the ordinance forward, the city council will not be voting on it for the upcoming fiscal year. It does remain possible the city will choose to revisit it in the future.
"I'm glad it went the way it did," Hajostek said. "I'm glad it seemed like we had a few people that could see it the way we're seeing it. And it would only hurt us at the moment."
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