E'town River Restaurant Expands

The famed E'town River Restaurant in E'town (that's Elizabethtown for those who like to spell out long names) has doubled its capacity with a new floating addition.

News Three reporter Stephanie Tyrpak of WSIL-TV has the story from earlier this month. With the new addition owner Patrick Joyner can now offer another 44 seats and has had to add two additional employees.

The restaurant, which floats on the Ohio River is located just across the street from the River Rose Inn and just down the street from the historic Rose Hotel, both on the Ohio River Scenic Byway.

Investors Target Area for Tourism Projects

Hardin County
Two cabins at Timber Ridge Outpost and Cabins opened Memorial Day weekend just off of Karbers Ridge Road a couple of miles away from Garden of the Gods.

Timber Ridge also opened one of their tree houses last week and a larger one now under construction should be finished by Sept. 1.

Elizabeth Canfarelli, one of the owners tells more about the idea for the tree houses.



Harrisburg
A video gaming parlor is being planned for the former Fox Cleaners location at the north end of Parker Plaza, according to shopping center's property manager. No application with the state has been filed yet. At least four other establishments have applied for video gaming licenses with the Illinois Gaming Board.

Marion
Logan's Roadhouse is wrapping up construction on Halfway Road around the road from a new Panera Bread and another restaurant is looking at the land immediately north of them. The Marion location will be the fourth in Illinois for Logan's.

Mr. Koolz Frozen Yogurt is coming to the former Stevens building on Williamson County Parkway across from Walmart and next door to Black Diamond Harley-Davidson. Rent One has purchased the building and is in the process of remodeling it.

Williamson County Commissioner Brent Gentry is opening the new establishment. According to the store's Facebook page, construction is under way and plans are to open next month in August.

Murphysboro
The Southern Illinoisan reported Monday that Martin Schaldemose, owner of the Old Train Depot is planning a major renovation of the historic structure in the 1700 block of West Walnut Street.

The owner said he hoped to begin major reconstruction in two months. He plans to knock out a southwest wall to make space for a larger kitchen. He also said he’s going to build an addition on the west side of the building to increase seating.

He would like to have a café with pastry and fine coffees during the day and transform the space into a “classy and cozy” restaurant with hints of French decorating at night.

A separate building south of the depot would be converted into an ice cream stand and bakery.

Hardin County Weighs Options Over Hogrock

Hardin County should follow Sen. Gary Forby's advice.

That's not something I write often, but he's correct that Hardin County should consider Home Rule when it comes to covering the costs associated with the events at Hogrock and the Gathering of the Juggalos.

The Southern Illinoisan has another story today of county officials highlighting the costs to the sheriff department, ambulance services and unpaid hospital bills.

Previously, Sheriff Lloyd Cullison told the Southern back in August the event cost at least $10,000 in overtime for his department.

County officials want a law passed that would allow them to charge the promoters of such events. The trouble is that while the General Assembly could approve such a law, it's unlikely it would be available to them by next year. With the turmoil that makes up the General Assembly's relationship with Gov. Quinn, it's not quite clear a bill could even pass and get signed.

While area lawmakers have been able to get some local legislation passed in recent years, they've run into road blocks when it concerns taxation or other similar issues.

Meanwhile, there's another option. Home Rule counties and communities could pass such an ordinance, but first, voters would have to approve Home Rule for Hardin County. It's something that officials should put on the ballot for the spring primary.

For example, if the county voters approve home rule, the county board could then levy an amusement tax like the City of Chicago does.

If I've read the rules correctly the Windy City levies an amusement tax on tickets of 5 percent of admission receipts for live theatrical, musical and other live cultural performances in places where the maximum capacity is more than 750 persons.

Part of the opposition to home rule is that any new ordinance might snag other events sponsored by churches or other non-profits.

First, even Chicago's ordinance exempts amusements held by religious, charitable and not-for-profit organizations used for fund raising purposes.

Second, most local festivals and events would not be covered because there aren't any tickets sold anyway.

Third, the county could easily draft an ordinance that did not include sporting events such as anything at the high school.

Fourth, religious gatherings couldn't be taxed anyway under existing law, so no one would be going after the Baptist camp for their youth events anyway.

So what could the county do with an Amusement Tax?

Various accounts of this year's four-day Gathering of the Juggalos give attendance at more than 10,000. Let's do the math. Tickets were $175 a person, so 10,000 x $175 comes to $1.75 million. A five percent amusement tax would have generated $87,500 for the county.

That's more than eight times what it costs the sheriff's department. It's time for the county to take the issue to the voters.

Here's another suggestion. Use the funds not only to cover costs associated with the event, but make investments in other tourism that could pay off in years to come.

Designate 25 percent for law enforcement (including some for the municipal police departments in the county). Take another quarter for medical costs (ambulance as well as the hospital).

Designate the other 50 percent for tourism development. Send another 25 percent to the Hardin County Bed Tax Committee (the local tourism group in the county) for additional marketing and other projects as they see fit.

That would leave 25 percent for capital projects. Hardin County is full of state and federal sites that are suffering due to neglect and lack of funding, not to mention the impact of river flooding, wind storms and ice storms from the past couple of years.

One relatively small project could be to add interpretive and educational signage at Cave-in-Rock State Park. It's a historic site but the only interpretation is the park brochure on a bulletin board under a piece of broken plexiglass. If that isn't bad enough, the "facts" in the brochure are incorrect.

Hardin County leaders should take a field trip to Johnston City. It took a number of tries, but voters there finally approved Home Rule. It's been a blessing to the cash-strapped city.

Hardin County's one of the three smallest counties in the state. Tourism is one of the few opportunities it has to grow. It's easy to notice the bad when it comes to Hogrock and the Gathering, but don't overlook the good it can bring as well.

Hotel Receipts Up in Region for FY11

The good news is hotel bed tax receipts were up for the 12 months ending in June 2011. The bad news, it's extremely difficult to match the state figures with local bed tax receipts. That shouldn't be the case (more on that later), but now the numbers.

After many areas took a battering last year in lodging revenues, most counties in Southern Illinois saw an increase in FY 2011.

Overall, the Illinois Department of Revenue reported that the state saw a 3.3 percent overall increase in bed tax collections throughout the 17-county region from Mount Vernon south (at least in the 11 counties where they broke out figures; data wasn't available for the other six). Area lodging operators collected more than $3.1 million for the state's 6 percent bed tax from travelers in the region.

For the last couple of decades Mount Vernon and Marion have boasted the most hotel rooms along with interstate interchanges, but for the last two years Williamson County has surprassed Jefferson County in taxable hotel revenues.

Jefferson County lodging operators brought in more than $13.5 million during the 12 month period compared to Williamson County's $13.9 million. Both counties saw revenues just 7.3 to 7.4 percent.

Jackson County saw revenues go up 1.6 percent to $8.7 million. Massac County also saw a small increase of just 1.2 percent to $4.35 million, but river flooding is also partly to blame with two of Metropolis' major properties closed at times this spring due to the high water, (one of which was still closed for remodeling as of a few weeks ago).

Franklin County comes in fifth with $2.9 million in hotel revenues, down 10.6 percent during the year, and down 16.9 percent compared with two years earlier.

Randolph County with hotels in Chester and Sparta saw a 10.5 percent drop in revenues last year, down to $2.5 million, but they're still up 7.8 percent over the last two years.

Union County rounds out the top seven counties with its establishments reporting just under $1.6 million in revenue. They were down three-tenths of a percent compared with the year before. Unlike its larger competitors, Union County sees most of its revenues come from smaller specialty properties of cabin rentals and B&Bs rather than hotels and motels.

In reality, Union County's lodging operators actually played a bigger role, as the state counts establishments by their zip codes rather than their actual location. Thus all of the places with Makanda zip codes including Giant City Lodge, are included in Jackson County's totals.

Likewise Williamson County loses three cabins with a Carbondale zip code to Jackson County, but picks up two at the Lake of Egypt with a Creal Springs zip code that are actually in Johnson County.

Elsehwere Saline County experienced a 13.1 percent increase with hotel revenue up to nearly $1.3 million. Perry County hotels followed with nearly $1.2 million, pretty much the same as the year before.

White County with most of its lodging on its north side at Grayville and Interstate 64 reported $1.1 million in hotel revenue.

Hardin County lodging operators reported $356,000 in revenue down 2.1 percent from the year before while Pope County saw a 35.9 percent increase in revenues reported though from a smaller base. Their operators reported $262,000 in room rentals.

No figures were made available for the industry in Alexander, Gallatin, Hamilton, Johnson and Pulaski counties (as well as White County for previous years). The state doesn't release county level information if there are fewer than four lodging establishments paying state taxes.

Another problem is that even when the zip code issue is taken into account, the state's still four or five establishments short in Williamson County alone. Either some folks aren't paying the state taxes, but should, or there's yet another issue with the Department of Revenue's procedures.

The difference between the state and county's figures in Williamson County is more than a vacation rental, or an outdated motel or two that's more residential than tourist any more. It's the equivalent of one or two of the largest hotels not paying.

I'm beginning to wonder if the state is counting the location of the hotel management company and where they write the monthly check rather than the actual location of the hotel. All the Department of Revenue is concerned about is, well, the revenue.

The problem is that the Williamson County Tourism Bureau may be getting shortchanged in state funding, just as Carbondale benefits and Southernmost Illinois Tourism loses when Giant City Lodge and all the other Makanda-addressed facilities on the Union side of the county line get counted in Jackson. Except in Williamson County's case the figures may be more significant.

Local certified convention and tourism bureaus are funded by local bed tax collections as well as a state Local Convention and Tourism Bureau (LCTB) grant. The General Assembly appropriates the overall amount for the LCTB grants and the Illinois Bureau of Tourism uses a formula to distribute the funds proportionally among the various bureaus. The formula is based on three components; the state's bed tax collections from the bureau's service area being the biggest component, with restaurant sales tax collections being the second biggest factor.

The problem? IBOT gets the figures for their formulas from the Illinois Department of Revenue.

That's a mystery I don't have time to unravel right now, but at least we can focus on the positive: More people are spending more money in Southern Illinois than they did the year before.

Ohio River Rising Back for an Encore

Rising river levels aren't threatening the lodging facilities in Hardin County, but the extended closing of the ferry at Cave-in-Rock is hurting local restaurants who rely on Kentucky customers unable to make it.

I did a book run to Hardin County on March 1, and rising waters were just getting to the stage that the ferry was planning to close in a couple of days. After three weeks or so the waters receded and the ferry reopened. Now another round of flooding closed it again Sunday.

By Tuesday before the storms hit, the water was already up to the alley behind the buildings along Main Street. Water Street which is the parking area along the river is under water.

Down at Elizabethtown, the water's not a problem for the Rose Hotel and the River Rose Inn across the street. It is a problem for the floating E'town River Restaurant. The eatery is supposed to be in the water, but not the parking lot and Front Street. It normally opens for the season in April.

Upstream at Shawneetown, the National Weather Service is reporting flood waters at 42.68 feet this morning at 1 a.m. not quite reaching the Moderate Flood Stage level of 43 feet. Major Flood Stage is 53 feet there. They only forecast out one week. The water is expected to continue rising with a projection of 47 feet next Thursday. That's still seven feet below the 1997 flood and well below the 1937 levels of 65.64 feet.

Downstream, at Golconda the National Weather Service is forecasting rising waters throughout the next seven days. Flood stage is 40 feet and the river was 44.57 feet this morning at 1 a.m. It's projected to be at 47.9 feet in a week. Moderate Flood Stage is at 50 feet.

The river is at 45.1 feet at Paducah, just two feet over the start of Moderate Flood Stage. Major stage doesn't start until the water is at 52 feet which was the winter crest back in 1867, not that anyone remembers that one. The record flood of 1937 was 60.60 feet at Paducah.

It's a bigger issue at Cairo. It's supposed to be 51.8 feet at Cairo by Monday morning, just a little over a foot away from what they describe as Major Flood Stage. That's five feet below the March 1997 high water mark and just under 8 feet below the 1937 flood.