Iowa State students should VOTE NO in next Tuesday’s referendum on the hotel-motel tax increase because the referendum is not in students’ best interests.

The referendum would increase the hotel-motel tax to 7 percent from 5 percent. Who would pay the tax increase? That’s easy. Your families and friends and relatives would pay when they came for your graduation or for the weekend. Your parents would pay when they came to help you move in. Your neighbors would pay when they brought their kids to look at campus.

And who benefits from the tax? The proceeds would add 1465 seats to Hilton Coliseum. Unfortunately, for athletics, the new seats would primarily benefit the athletic booster club donors. ISU Athletic Director Gene Smith told the city council so on January 26. It’s in the minutes of the meeting.

Why can’t these people pay for their own seats? These “priority seating plan” customers already take up the vast majority of the priority seats in the parquet and arena levels, while the vast majority of students are exiled to nose-bleed territory in the balcony.

Your families should pay more taxes to benefit these folks?

Why couldn’t ISU let these donors “endow” their own seats? For the $1500 cost of each of these new seats, they could endow a piece of Hilton Magic, complete with personalized, polished brass nameplate.

Students have been unimpressed with the deal. Jayadev Athreya wrote in the ISU Daily, “There is no pressing need for this expansion,” and he called the tax increase “unnecessary, excessive and unfair.”

Steve Erickson, chair of the Campus Republicans, and Stacy Walshire, president of the ISU Democrats, issued a joint press release opposing the referendum. Now how often does that happen?

Belatedly, the Athletic Department has now found a measly 186 new seats to offer students, but only if the referendum passes. Steve Erickson reacted to the offer in the Des Moines Register (4/16/99), “It implies that our votes can be bought.”

Two last issues. You have been told the new seats are needed to keep rock concerts coming to Hilton. I don’t believe it, and here’s why. Of seven Hilton concerts last year, only two sold out. Five times out of seven they couldn’t sell the seats they have.

Elton John’s booking agent, Steve Smith, told the Ames Tribune, “I think before they figure out whether to add additional seats they have to figure out whether they’re selling out with the seats they have.

You could have a 50,000 seat place or a 15,000 seat place, but if you’re not selling it out, then what does it matter?”

If you want to know what will keep concerts coming to Ames, it’s 25,000 students who like music and have money to spend.

You’re the market they’re looking for, and that’s why the acts will come.

And, when a really big act comes to town, there’s always the stadium.

The other issue has to do with the other changes that will take place at Hilton: adding restrooms and making changes to comply with fire safety and Americans with Disabilities Act regulations.

These changes will all be done anyway, tax increase or no. ISU has over $3 million in the bank to do it.

Most of that money they got from you. You and your predecessors have been paying student fee money into the Hilton bond reserve fund for years.

Students have already paid enough for Hilton renovations. Why should students have to pay again-and for seats they don’t get to use when donors could pay for their own seats?

Polls are open next Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. You must be registered in Ames to vote.

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Herman Quirmbach

Associate professor

Economics

Ames City Councilman