Voters in Springfield, Missouri, rejected a 3% hotel tax increase Tuesday, after rejecting a similar measure in November.
Both Tuesday's ballot measure and the defeated November increase were proposed to fund an expansion of the city's convention center.
Springfield voters shot down the tax increase again by a margin of 57.87% to 42.13%, according to the
The plan was for revenue from the hotel tax increase to pay debt service on bonds issued for the project.
The Springfield Expo Center opened its doors in 2002. Financed through $19.38 million of leasehold revenue
The 2002 revenue bonds, issued through the Springfield City Center Development Corporation, were
Compared to its peak visitation level in 2018, the convention center's 2024 figures represent a 26% drop, according to the Hunden impact study. Visitation also dropped 2.2% from 2023 levels.
The Expo Center's visitation numbers are declining as the broader events industry faces persistent spending constraints,
The expanded facility would triple event space, expand the exhibit hall and add two new ballrooms and meeting space, according to the city's
The 3% increase could generate about $4.5 million a year,
Springfield's leaders were guided by a June
In its impact study — commissioned by Visit Springfield, Missouri, formerly the Convention and Visitors Bureau — Hunden called for a sweeping expansion of Springfield's convention center.
The total estimated cost of the project was $384.7 million, not including parking.
That's compared to an estimated $68.7 million in net new tax revenue over the next 30 years, according to the impact study.
Hunden's estimate includes $209 million to build a new 400-room hotel.
"A high-end, full-service hotel is critical to attracting more corporate groups and conventions. A hotel with a larger footprint and flexible meeting space would assist Springfield in doing so," the report said.
The city is actively responding to and seeking interest for a private hotel development to complement the convention and events center, it said on its website. "This development would be funded by the private sector."
The proposed tax increase would have been added on to the
Hunden has been preparing feasibility studies for Springfield, a city of about 170,000 residents, since 2011, with the June 12 impact study marking its third such report.
"Springfield's facilities have stagnated, while regional competitors have modernized and invested in convention centers, which has driven economic growth," Hunden said in the June study, which said "Springfield is falling behind" competitors.
"We don't have any sort of large convention facility at all," Springfield Mayor Jeff Schrag said. "So we're locked out of that market entirely."
Springfield's current facility cannot accommodate many out-of-town business groups, conventions and traveling shows, and even some groups in town that have growing events have had "to take it out of town," he said.
Schrag said the plan was for the expansion to be bond-financed. If the ballot measure had passed Tuesday, the tax would not have taken effect until Oct. 1 due to state requirements, he said. He predicted the bonds would be issued in the fourth quarter of 2026 or first quarter of 2027.
"We have earmarked $30 million from a local sales tax, and then everything on top of that… will be paid for exclusively through this increase in the hotel/motel tax," he said of the bonds.
Of the state grant, which requires local matching funds, Schrag said, "If the vote passes, the vibe from the governor's office is that they will go forward with (the funding). But we're not counting on that money; that would be extra."
There is no demand for an expanded convention center facility in Springfield, said Patrick Tuohey, senior fellow at the Show Me Institute, a Missouri think tank that favors free markets, and co-founder and policy director of the Better Cities Project, a municipal public policy think tank. If there were, "a private investor would have taken advantage of that," he said.
"That is the M.O. of these consultant firms," said Tuohey, who was interviewed before Tuesday's election. "Hunden Partners kind of did what they do everywhere. They've made the same promises (in other cities)… There is a class of consultant that goes around the country telling these (local governments): if you build it, they will come. Some cities build it, and the people do not come.
"And importantly, mathematically, all these reports cannot be true," he added. "You cannot tell every city with a convention center, if you build more capacity, you will get more traffic, because the market just isn't going to grow like that."
In the study, Hunden argued the current performance of the Expo Center doesn't predict future success because the current center "lacks a ballroom; it is not operated effectively; the attached Sears building, including its existing function space, is largely unused and unmarketable for groups; (and) it does not include the necessary hotel and walkable amenities that are critical for sustained success."
Tuohey said that "unfortunately, Springfield government has bought this hook, line and sinker.
"If I lived in Springfield, I'd be irritated that it's back on the ballot so quickly, just because the city didn't get its way," he said. "Are we to believe that the people of Springfield will be asked to vote on this until they pass it?"
Hunden projected the impact of the recommended expansion to be nearly 200,000 stabilized annual attendees; 80,000 stabilized room nights generated per year; 200-plus full-time equivalent jobs over 30 years; and $1.3 billion in net new visitor spending over 30 years.
The consulting firm also called on the city to fire Atrium Hospitality and hire a new third-party management team, criticizing Atrium for failing to provide Hunden with event or booking data or financial reports; such a change is "essential to restoring the facility's competitiveness," Hunden wrote.
"If the city of Springfield wanted to change management of their convention center and see if that worked, that would be welcome," Tuohey said. "If management is the problem, you don't need to build (an expanded) convention center to fix that."
In November's special election, turnout was 7.12%, according to the
About half as many people voted in the one-measure special election as did in the April 2025 mayoral elections.
Turnout Tuesday was much stronger: almost 13,000 ballots were cast, up from 7,495 in November.
"Here was the mistake we made in November: we didn't run any sort of campaign," Schrag said. "The voters told us the first time around, they didn't know enough about it."
The city did put out basic information, as the law allows, "but that was the extent of it," he said. "This time, there was a robust campaign" by a local citizens' group. "There've been signs, there've been mailers, there's been a social media presence," he said.
A more active campaign ulitimately brought an increase in both "no" and "yes votes, but the margin of defeat was wider.
"Even if they just build the convention center, and they put in some restaurants… the likelihood is that they're just redirecting economic activity from elsewhere in the city," Tuohey said. "Simply building a new facility doesn't mean that their future traffic is going to be from further away."
Over half of Expo Center visitors came from within 25 miles of the center, and most long-distance visitors came from within the state, according to the 2024 visitation summary in the impact study.
"Springfield is able to meet the demands of its convention center business right now," Tuohey said. "And if it wasn't, some entrepreneur would step forward and take advantage of that."
An expanded facility will not change the fundamental dynamics for Springfield, which is operating in a saturated market where nearby communities — like Joplin, Lake Ozark and Branson, all less than 100 miles from Springfield — also offer convention centers, he said.
But "I am confident that if this fails again, the city will want to put it back on the ballot," Tuohey said.
Moody's assigns Springfield its Aa1 issuer rating with no outlook.
