Lodging tax drama lingers

The Ely Area Lodging Tax Board was bogged down both with procedural issues and uncertainty about its future during another divisive session.

While previously-authorized payments to the city of Ely and the Ely Chamber of Commerce were approved during the July 27 session, Fall Lake’s representative on the board continued to press for changes in the group’s makeup and operation - and threatened that the township might soon leave the existing alliance with the city of Ely, Morse Township and St. Louis County.

Cindy Smyka, who was appointed to the board by Fall Lake earlier this year, contends it’s “a 99 percent certainty” that Fall Lake would leave the joint powers - and take the roughly $120,000 in tax revenues it generates a year with them.