At the Nov. 7 meeting, the Pierre City Commission had a Public Hearing and First Reading for an ordinance to establish Business Improvement District (BID) #3 and to establish an occupancy tax for that district.
BID #3 consists solely of the hotel planned for development at the site of old City Hall along Sioux Avenue. As proposed, people staying at the yet-to-be-built hotel would pay a BID #3 fee of $2 per room, per night. Those fees are then obligated to pay development expenses.
According to Pierre Mayor Steve Harding a BID is an economic development tool that allows government to facilitate economic growth while holding tax-payers harmless.
Construction of the new hotel along Sioux Avenue is scheduled to begin this year. It’s part of a larger development, led by Hegg Companies of Sioux Falls, including a 60-room apartment complex and commercial building.
The ordinance will come back to the City Commission for consideration and action Nov. 14.