You can't blame the St. Joseph County Hotel-Motel Tax Board members for worrying that legislators might throw a monkey wrench into their works.
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Every hotel-motel tax in the state is set by individual General Assembly statute. In St. Joseph County, the local managing board is constituted of members appointed by the cities of South Bend and Mishawaka and the county.
Currently, visitors who stay in hotel and motel rooms in the county pay a 6 percent tax that goes to support tourism. Much of the revenue goes to Century Center. It's the 1 percent intended for the Hall that's again under discussion.
Board members last month agreed not to allocate for 2013 the $597,000 that would have gone to the Hall of Fame, if it weren't closing this month for its move to Atlanta.
After talk of options last week, the board again agreed to table action on the money until at least January.
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Lawmakers, when they reconvene, could, if they wished, allow the board to make its own decision on how to allocate revenues from the full levy or choose another option, such as resetting the tax back to 5 percent.
It's impossible to say if retrofitting the Hall of Fame for another tourism use will be called for. Holding the unused funds in reserve though for such a possibility is wise.
Should a reuse for the Hall not materialize, the St. Joseph County Board of Managers for the Hotel/Motel Tax is best suited to determine what to do next. Should the extra money go to Century Center? Should the levy be reduced?
The General Assembly should take its cue from whatever the local board decides.
