Fact Check: Alongi says tax not reason NFPB moved
At the Du Quoin Chamber of Commerce meeting on May 4th, assistant Du Quoin State Fair Manager Tibretta Reiman stated her opposition to the City of Du Quoin's proposed amusement tax.
She was fearful that the tax would push event promoters and their events out of the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds and the State. Furthermore, she cited the National Federation of Professional Bullriders (NFPB) as empirical evidence to support her claim.
According to Reiman, NFPB moved their event from St. Joseph, Missouri to Du Quoin because of the imposition of an amusement tax there. NOT true,. according to Du Quoin Mayor Guy Alongi. Mayor Alongi said he reached out to St. Joseph City Attorney Bryan Carter to learn about their amusement tax and its magnitude.
He received an unexpected response from Mr. Carter: "no one can recall ever having a tax similar to the amusement tax you described". To ascertain that St. Joseph did not have an amusement tax, Mr. Carter contacted City Facilities Manager and City Associate Director of Revenue. Both confirmed that there is no amusement tax. St. Joseph City Facilities Manager Kathy Brock added "no the NFPB did not leave St. Joseph because of such a tax. The reason they left has nothing to do with taxes".
She did say that the State of Missouri has a 2 percent tax on "performers". However, this tax was not imposed on NFPB because they were not considered "performers." In addition to the Performers tax, the state of Missouri has an 8.95% sales tax. Mayor Alongi said that according to Mrs. Brock, NFPB left St. Joseph due to a relationship that went cold between their Florida based consultants and the City.
It is evident that no new taxes were imposed on NFPB while their event was in St. Joseph, nor was there ever an amusement tax. Mayor Alongi concluded "Tibretta Reiman wrongly included NFPB in her amusement tax narrative, and she of all people should have known better as she was either a consultant or had a business relationship with NFPB up until days before she started her new position at the fair."
Alongi said days before it was announced she would be the assistant fair manager, she had a meeting with himself and chambers president Robyn Russell Laur and Stacey Hirsch about raising funds for advertisement so NFPB could record and televise their events on cable networks across the country that didn't include Southern Illinois. The request according to Alongi fell on deaf ears.