Take two: Council to take another shot at tax for convention center funding

SBJ File

The convention and event center project is proposed for a grass lot in the 700 block of East St. Louis Street.

[Editor's note: Updated with additional information at 12:35 p.m., Jan. 13, 2026.]

Springfield City Council unanimously voted Jan. 12 to put a new 3% lodging tax in front of voters in the April 7 election.

If the measure passes on the April ballot, revenue from the tax on hotel, motel and short-term rental stays will be used to fund a downtown convention and events center.

Council put forth a similar measure to voters in November 2025, and it failed with 52% opposed. Only 7% of registered voters, numbering 7,488, cast ballots.

New to the tax passed Jan. 12 is a sunset period, with the tax set to expire after 35 years. The updated measure also proposes using funds to pay not only for construction of a convention and events center, but also for its operation and maintenance.

The ordinance passed by council cites a 2025 report by the city’s paid consultant group Hunden Strategic Partners Inc. That report estimates the project will generate $1.3 billion in net new visitor spending over 30 years and $68.7 million in net new fiscal impact over 30 years.

In a report before the vote, City Manager David Cameron shared the results of an online survey and several in-person feedback sessions. Cameron said 45%-55% of survey respondents said they would be open to a revised tax proposal.

The ordinance also sets a hard cap of $175 million on construction costs, and Cameron envisions a maximum cost of $205 million if the city receives a $30 million appropriation from the state legislature, currently being withheld by Gov. Mike Kehoe.

Annual revenue from the 3% tax, if it passes, is estimated at $4.5 million, while annual debt service of the convention and event center would be $8 million-$13 million, reported city Finance Director David Holtmann.

Funding model questions

For the new measure, city officials have doubled growth rate projections of the annual 3% proposed lodging tax revenue from 2%, touted in the run-up to the November ballot, to 4%. Cameron said in his Jan. 6 community listening session that the 2% projection was conservative, and the new projection is more in line with the city’s typical historical growth rate of 5% of the existing lodging tax.

As a result, officials believe the city can pay for the center through the 3% tax increase alone, rather than tapping into a portion of an existing 5% room tax for construction costs.

In the run-up to the November ballot measure, officials promoted a funding stack that included reallocation of the revenue from the city’s existing 5% lodging tax, part of which goes toward Jordan Valley bond debt that retires in 2028. The revenue would be freed up and could be reallocated, in full or in part, toward the convention center project, according to past SBJ reporting.

Councilmember Brandon Jenson asked city staff about the revenue projections during the meeting. He said he had heard questions about funding from constituents, and earlier in the day, resident city watchdog Linda Simkins posted a lengthy breakdown of funding concerns on her Facebook page, Springfield/Greene County Start Local.

Annual revenue from the 3% tax, if it passes, is estimated currently at $4.5 million, while annual debt service of the convention and event center would be about $8 million to begin with and an estimated $13 million in year 30, reported city Finance Director David Holtmann.

“Our debt service varies,” Holtmann said. “It’s lighter on the front end.”

Jenson pointed out that there is significant variability in individual years with the growth within the existing hotel/motel sales tax.

Cameron said it would be prudent to build a reserve of dollars from the existing tax to make sure the city can cover the debt service in a down year.

Councilmember Bruce Adib-Yazdi sought clarification of the cost of the proposed center. He noted his understanding was that the hard-cap cost of $175 million on construction would be paid for with finance income; an additional $30 million from the state would allow the cost to go to $205 million. The debt would be $145 million, he added, because of $30 million already allocated from the 2025 Spring Forward SGF sales tax. Cameron confirmed that this was accurate.

Election message

Cameron encouraged council to approve an education plan by city staff in the period leading up to the vote, with the plan to be introduced at council’s Jan. 26 meeting.

Cameron also said a conceptual drawing would be released to the public by March 6. The site of the center is on property that includes and is adjacent to the city-owned Springfield Expo Center, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

Mark Hecquet, president and CEO of Visit Springfield, Missouri, spoke to council in support of the tax measure, stating that the revenue would be able to pay for community needs.

“A strong visitor economy helps pay for our city’s priorities,” he said.

Hecquet said a facility would bring year-round visitors to Springfield. He added that the city has never had a fully functioning convention center.

“Every day we lose more than we gain,” he said, adding that his staff has identified more than 1,000 new pieces of business that could potentially come to Springfield but that the city cannot accommodate today.

He estimated the city is losing $125,000 per day from its lack of a convention center.

Asked to envision the types of conventions the city might anticipate, Hecquet said it opens the doors to almost anything and to attracting the business the city most desires.

“It’s a massive opportunity,” Hecquet said. “It allows us to now be picky about who we want rather than, ‘We’re not in that aisle right now; we take anybody.’”

The single-reading emergency measure was a late addition to the council agenda, placed there Jan. 9 after a special council meeting the same day. The issue was adopted as an emergency measure to meet the Jan. 27 deadline for adding a question to the April ballot.

An expanded version of this story will be published in Tuesday’s Daily Update newsletter.