Ask Mr. Answer Person your Rebound Hospitality hotel project questions

The proposed site plan for the hotel development

(The Decorah City Council's discussion of the proposed Fairfield Inn & Suites project on the site of the former Bluffs Inn has brought questions from our readers)

(Greg asks, "Who are the local members of rebound hospitality?")

Mr. Answer Person says, "Rebound Hospitality was started by Northfield, Minnesota resident Brett Reese in 2008 when he began tackling the remodeling of the Archer House, Northfield's historic hotel.  Rebound purchased its second historic hotel--Decorah's Hotel Winneshiek--in 2010.

Brett Reese is a 1981 Luther College graduate.  The company he formed has made a point of being involved in the communities it serves--such as Decorah, Northfield, Faribault and Des Moines.  For more about "the local members" of Rebound Hospitality, visit http://www.reboundhospitality.com/about/

(Darrel asks, "After an earlier meeting with developers, the Decorah City Council was only in favor of doing real estate tax rebates and not in favor of  giving city money, which they said the city does not have.  When did this change?  Will there be both tax rebates and now a grant?  If so, where is the money coming from?  This seems like a rather large amount of money that will come from a city that has to borrower $193,000 to buy a street sweeper.  And  can the Council decide on its own to spend $250,000 in local tax money without having citizen input?)

Mr. Answer Person says, "The hotel project financing is fairly complicated and hard to squeeze into just a short news story.  So let's take your questions in order.

What has changed recently with the financial assistance to the developers is that Decorah Jobs has agreed to give $500,000 to the project.  The money that Decorah Jobs is talking about is a combination of the Hotel/Motel tax funding it receives from the City of Decorah and other funds it has on hand.

Hotel/motel taxes are charged every time a visitor stays at a lodging place in Decorah.  Because the construction of a new 80-room motel will generate additional Hotel/Motel taxes, Decorah Jobs is confident it can make a promise of $500,000 in financial help to Rebound Hospitality.

As for needing a $193,000 loan to buy a street sweeper, we're talking about the city's streets budget--not the hotel/motel tax revenues.  It's a different funding source.

And, yes, the Decorah City Council can make decisions on how the city should spend money--that's why City Council elections are important!  But, to repeat, the $500,000 being discussed as a grant to Rebound Hospitality is money being promised by Decorah Jobs from the funds it receives through the hotel/motel tax--not from local property taxes."