Minutes 05/12/2020 - Laserfiche WebLink

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May 12, 2020 Portsmouth, unfortunately, has a reputation of not being friendly to businesses. Voting YES to increase the Restaurant Meal Tax would prove that Portsmouth City Council does not favor business, nor does it appreciate the business owners. Again, please vote NO on the ordinance to the increase Restaurant Meal Tax! Tiffany D. Pierce-Horton and Christopher Horton 1500 Leckie Street 9) The restaurants and small business owners of Portsmouth, and their guests, would like to go on record as strongly opposed to the proposed increase in our city’s meals tax. Restaurants in Portsmouth have been through a lot over the years and are now in the middle of the biggest crisis we’ve ever faced. Simply hearing that Portsmouth has increased their meals tax will deter some guests from driving from neighboring cities. Now is not the time to put this thought in people’s minds. Our small business-centric community in Olde Towne and Mid-Town is made up of a lot of mom and pop businesses, a large portion of which are restaurants. The proposed tax will change the way people see our city and where they spend their money on meals. We already have a higher meals tax than even some major cities, and it affects locally owned business differently than chains. If, as you state, “the tax income from restaurants is a vital piece of the cities budget”, then we ask for compassion during our current situation to not make recovery harder. We keep hearing that the tax is pennies on the dollar and no one will even notice the addition to their bill, but all people need to hear is that Portsmouth is raising a tax. That information alone adds to the idea that Portsmouth is already an undesirable destination with our high crime, heavy tolls and insufficient parking. Every dollar spent in our restaurants is taxed an average of 6 times more in this city, and hardly any of it comes back to the industry. Even so, restaurants continue to do so much for the community. They support non-profits, schools and employee thousands of people. They are the heart beat of Portsmouth yet rarely weigh in on matters before Council. Our restaurants are already hurting from past decisions, and now we have lost 90% to 100% of our income because of this pandemic. Imagine if the City of Portsmouth all of a sudden had no income but still had to pay all of its payroll and fixed costs. How long would the money last? We hope you can empathize with our situation, and we invite you to contact the restaurants to gather more information before committing to a proposed meals tax that we all strongly oppose. We have reached out to Mayor Rowe as well as every City Council Member with response from only two, both of which opposed it. Please understand that we make up a large part of who this city is and without restaurants we lose an important part of the community structure. When they succeed, the city succeeds. Portsmouth Hospitality Association P. O. Box 200 10) Perhaps our City leadership needs more guidance than usual and my concerns are very specific on two issues... the first is preserving what remains of our very weak restaurant industry and the second is the possible growth potential of the restaurant industry in Portsmouth. The Portsmouth restaurant industry has been steadily languishing for many years due to a few negative pressures that have inflicted devastating blows to local restaurants. Most notable has been the Elizabeth River Tunnel Tolls. Prior to tolls re-visiting the Downtown and Midtown Tunnels in 2014 the food service/restaurant/entertainment industry in Portsmouth was growing steadily. Governor McAuliffe heroically delayed the tolls for a year on the first day he took office by delaying toll collection until 2015. Since toll collection began in 2015 there has been a steady decline in overall restaurant/entertainment sales.