Left, Alderman Randy Stroik (left) and Comptroller-Treasurer Corey Ladick. (City-Times photo)

By Brandi Makuski

The city could soon lose one of its oldest motels, and with it, possibly some $10,000 in room tax revenue.

Point Motel, 209 Division Street, is currently pending sale to CCFS Group LLC- a group of investors and developers looking to build a student rental complex on that property. The motel brought in $10,171 in 2012 room tax revenue for the City of Stevens Point, but the city treasurer Corey Ladick said room tax is typically subjective anyway.

“If this (rental development) goes through we obviously won’t be getting that from Point Motel,” Ladick said Friday. “But would those people go to another hotel or motel in Stevens Point? Then we wouldn’t be losing that. Or, would they go to another municipality? People come here for specific events, so you could argue we’d see a higher room tax from another hotel.”

A large portion of room tax is revenue- which came to $641k in 2012- is given to the Stevens Point Visitors and Convention Bureau. The remaining 53 percent is doled out to various city programs geared towards boosting tourism, including major projects and maintenance, an arts endowment and the Riverfront Arts Center. Ladick said one example of a major project would include events at K.B. Willet Area, where hockey tournaments typically bolster hotel stays.

The city could also see the demolition of another local motel, that of Maples Too on Church Street. That motel, which is up for sale, brings only about $400 a year in room tax and could be lost during the widening of Bus. 51.

Ladick said the potential loss of roughly $16,000 will probably not be a factor in spending because city leaders expect a variance of that much.

“A lot of it is dependent on the economy and what events are going on in the city,” Ladick said. “Not that it’s not a lot of money, because it is, but it’s not enough where we say it’s time to re-budget our room tax expense. That kind of variance is expected.”