Truman Hotel TIF proposal fails in Jefferson City council vote
UPDATE: The Truman Hotel TIF proposal failed in a 5 to 5 vote Monday night.
The measure needed at least seven votes in favor of the proposal to pass since the TIF commission previously voted against the proposal.
Several council members who voted against the measure said they were concerned about the way the project would use funds from the city’s 3 percent lodging tax.
Council members Rick Mihalevich, Rick Prather, Mark Schreiber, Carlos Graham and Jim Branch voted against the TIF.
Council members who voted in favor of the TIF said it would have been a good development and helped the city grow. Councilman Glen Costales told ABC 17 News he feared the decision would deter future business and developers from Jefferson City.
Council members Larry Henry, Erin Wiseman, Ken Hussey and Laura Ward also voted in favor of the TIF.
After the vote, ABC 17 News asked the developers if they planned to do anything else with the property since the TIF failed.
“The property sitting there, I mean it was in bad shape when we got it,” Ramen Puri with the Puri Group of Enterprises said. “It cannot be run in its present condition. But there’s no point in doing something there if the city itself doesn’t see the value to it.”
ORIGINAL STORY: The Jefferson City Council is set to vote on a tax increment financing district, or TIF district, proposal for the former Truman Hotel property Monday.
The proposal by the Puri Group of Enterprises includes building a Holiday Inn, Courtyard by Marriott and renovation of the existing conference center at the abandoned property off Highway 54.
The city’s TIF commission voted against the proposal in late June in a 7-1 vote. The city council must have a two-thirds majority vote in favor of the proposal to pass it Monday.
The estimated total cost of the total project is nearly $56.8 million, according to the staff and consultant report on the TIF.
The developers are requesting about $8.9 million in reimbursement through the TIF, which is about 15.65 percent of the project costs.
