A final $10 million worth of tax exemptions for the Menu Foods expansion is set to be approved Wednesday.
The Emporia City Commission will vote on the five-year property tax break at this week’s meeting. About $3 million in exemptions has already been approved for Menu’s expansion, which added a fourth production line for its pouch-stored pet food, to its operations. The line went into operation in 2005.
Since the expansion happened before last July, the pouch line is not eligible for a permanent tax break on new equipment that the Legislature approved this year.
The new line was set up in a building originally intended for the Ingenium can company.
Commissioners also will discuss whether to raise the “bed tax” on motels from 5 percent to 6 percent. If approved, the move would bring in an additional $63,000 for Emporia’s Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Also known as the transient guest tax, the bed tax tries to use tourist dollars to promote more tourism, both by marketing Emporia and by supporting attractions such as the William Allen White State Historic Site. But this year, there have been a lot of needs and not quite enough cash. The CVB was about $20,000 short of being able to support all the requests made to its advisory board.
That’s why, last September, the bureau suggested raising the ceiling on the bed tax. The city commission did just that, voting to bump the maximum possible rate from 5 to 7 percent. But the ordinance couldn’t go into effect until this month, so the actual rate stayed at 5 percent.
The money is not part of the city’s general fund.