The Greater Oro Valley Chamber of Commerce board supports the town of Oro Valley’s plan to buy a country club and increase the sales-tax rate to pay for it.
The board heard presentations from the town staff and deliberated about the plan Friday.
The Town Council will vote on the acquisition and sales-tax hike Wednesday — just two weeks after the proposal was first made public. The plan is to buy El Conquistador Country Club, 10555 N. La Cañada Drive, and its 45 holes of golf for $1 million and turn it into a community center. Money to renovate the facilities over time would come from a dedicated half-cent sales tax.
Having a community center “would aid in employer recruitment and retention, and help the community continue its maturation into a full-service place to live,” said Dave Perry, president and CEO of the chamber.
“The opportunities this acquisition presents will improve life in Oro Valley for decades to come,” he said in a statement.
The town’s sales tax would increase to 2.5 percent.
Perry said the chamber prefers a sales tax to other kinds of taxes the town could raise because about a third of the money would come from taxes paid by visitors. The average Oro Valley resident would pay about $2.60 more per month in sales taxes, he said.
The revenue from the tax is expected to bring $2 million a year to pay for improvement projects at the community center and golf courses. The town has projected $5.4 million in capital improvement projects for the property from 2015 to 2019.
