Harveysburg survived dissolution. Now village wants to tax Renaissance Festival tickets

Next year's Ohio Renaissance Festival goers could face slightly higher ticket prices, thanks to a new admissions tax from the village of Harveysburg.

Harveysburg voted unanimously, 6-0, to approve a 3% admissions tax at the village council meeting Monday. The tax would mean Harveysburg would collect 96 cents from every $32 ticket sold for the festival.

The village just survived a dissolution vote on Election Day, but voters once again did not pass levies for the village's operating budget and and police services.

Mark Tipton, the president of the village council, said the admissions tax was not passed in response to the levies' failure.

"We have been working on the admissions tax in its various forms for over two years," he said in an email to The Enquirer.

What revenue could Harveysburg bring in from the ticket tax?

Tipton estimates the tax could bring in a revenue of $150,000 to $180,000 in the first year, according to council meeting minutes. He said the village could use the revenue to update the storm sewer system and resurface Main Street.

The village received $44,000 as a "community development fee" from the festival last year, which was approximately 14% of Harveysburg's overall $311,316 revenue in 2022.

Harveysburg originally had a contract with festival organizers in which the festival agreed to pay that annual fee in exchange for the village council's agreement not to impose a ticket tax. The 25-year contract ended in December without a new one replacing it.

The Enquirer reached out to David Ashcraft with Brimstone and Fire LLC, the company that owns the festival, via phone call and text message on Thursday, but did not receive a response prior to publication.

The village is currently facing a court challenge from the festival, which asked to detach its fairgrounds from Harveysburg and be declared part of neighboring Massie Township.

The festival's petition to detach was partly because of the proposed ticket tax but also because the festival already works with the township for services like the fire department and emergency medical treatment, Ashcraft previously told The Enquirer.

The case is scheduled to go before a judge in May.

Warren County representative introduces bill for 'village accountability'

State Rep. Adam Mathews, a Lebanon Republican, announced on Thursday that he introduced a bill with Rep. Tom Young, a Washington Township Republican, to provide "village accountability."

The bill would create an automatic process for county budget commissioners to audit each village in their county after every U.S. Census and determine whether the village provides a majority of services to their constituents and fields candidates for office.

Villages that fail to meet those requirements would trigger an automatic vote for dissolution before voters at the next general election.

“This legislation aims to ensure that villages are prudent stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Mathews said in a press release. “This bill will both encourage villages to meet the needs of their constituents and simply local tax structures, with voters having the final say at the ballot box.”

Erin Glynn is the watchdog reporter for Butler, Warren and Clermont counties through the Report For America program. The Enquirer needs local donors to help fund her grant-funded position. If you want to support Glynn's work, you can donate to her Report For America position at this website or email her editor Carl Weiser at cweiser@enquirer.com to find out how you can help fund her work.

Do you know something she should know? Send her a note at eglynn@enquirer.com and follow her on Twitter at @ee_glynn.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Harveysburg approves tax on Ohio Renaissance Festival tickets