SCOTTSBORO, Ala. — In a four to one vote, the Scottsboro City Council approved an ordinance that will increase the city’s lodging tax by two percent.

The tax was at 12 percent.

The increase would be split in half. One percent would go toward a tourism grant that different entities could apply for to help promote tourism. The other one percent would be split in half. “The other half percent would go to the Scottsboro Downtown Redevelopment Authority and then the other half a percent remaining would go to the Scottsboro Commercial Development Authority,” Councilman Brent Miller explains.

Those organizations would invest that money into revitalization, creating a destination and growth.

The proposal the Council approved does not include campgrounds. Scottsboro has a large and popular campground in Goose Pond Colony that draws visitors in from out-of-town. “My concern is that the additional two percent lodging tax does not apply to campgrounds, where the original one that is currently enforced does include campgrounds,” Mayor Melton Potter said, “So my consideration is why isn’t it a level playing field all the way across for the campgrounds.” This past weekend Goose Pond Colony campground saw 112 visitors. Of that, about ten percent were from Scottsboro.

Mayor Potter says he was considering veto, but Tuesday decided against that move. The ordinance is expected to go into effect in the upcoming weeks.