Cedar Point and proposed parking tax

Thanks for the update, Walt! I agree with the editorial. If Cedar Point makes up nearly 1/4 of the general fund income, in addition to all the other millions of dollars in taxes noted in the article, then I agree 100% they should fight with everything they have.

I'm not oppossed to paying an additional 64 cents to pay to park, but how city officials can honestly say its not a direct hit at Cedar Point, I don't understand.

I don't believe it's Cedar Point's problem to bail the city out every time Sandusky has money problems, seems to me the park has given more than enough already.

Walt, when you hear more, please keep us updated!

-Mikey

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Let your mind go...and your body will follow...

Are they gonna tax the parking passes?

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"Will you sprinkle my fries?"

I've got a crazy idea for Cedar Fair. If ya can't beat 'em, drop the parking fee. I'm sure park patrons/guests wouldn't mind if you allocated funds for parkinglot upkeep from other sources. $49.95 is a small price to pay, and we'll probably pay it. What good is a "parking tax" if there isn't any paid parking facilties? :-D
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If I win the lottery, I promise not to quit my job. Although, it may not take very long for me to be fired.
In the immortal words of Socrates, "I drank what?!"

But that would cut off CP's revenue from the parking lot, not a good idea from a business point of view. I like Dave's idea, charge 50 cents for parking and $7.50 for the causeway toll. The reaction of city officials would be priceless.

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Florida may have Disneyworld and Key West,
but Ohio has Cedar Point and Put-In-Bay.
It's great to live in Ohio!

I agree with Dougster and with what someone mentioned in an earlier post. It is not right for Sandusky to suck all that it can from what is probably their best resident. Without CP, Sandusky would be nothing more than just another run-down fishing town on the lake. Like what was mentioned earlier, just make the parking fee $.50 and the causeway fee $7.50. That way the city still gets their tax, it just amounts to $.04 per car instead of $.64.

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-Chris Woodard
"If you're standing in an uncomfortable position, that means you are in the right position because you are riding Mantis!" - Mantis ride op doing spiels on closing day.

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Pete said:
But that would cut off CP's revenue from the parking lot, not a good idea from a business point of view.

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Read the post.

"$49.95 is a small price to pay, and we'll probably pay it. What good is a "parking tax" if there isn't any paid parking facilties? :-D"

Doesn't it all go into the "Cedar Fair Pocket" anyway? There's more than one way to skin a cat. But, then again, what will Sandusky tax if the parking is out of the question. And, who's gonna pay it? We are. Remember. Crap rolls down hill. Are you not going to Cedar Point anymore because in leau of an $8.00 parking fee you have to pay $8.64? Just eat one less corndog while you're there. You probably didn't need it, anyway. I'll bet this is why they are worried about it. As far as marketing, I doubt you'll see anything about CPs parking tax on Six Flags' website, or fliers. If you do, it'd be proof that they're reaching for strings. ;-)
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If I win the lottery, I promise not to quit my job. Although, it may not take very long for me to be fired.
In the immortal words of Socrates, "I drank what?!"

Actually, from another standpoint, not that I support the city's argument, but Cedar Point makes mucho bucks from admissions, etc. So I'm not sure that the effect would be so great on the park from a lack of revenue in parking...
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Free your mind.
05.15.03

If you look around the country, there are many instances where a company (say Walmart or something) moves into an area and pays full taxes for one year - if that. After that, they look to be re-assessed at a much lower value so they have to pay less taxes. I'm sure CP's property value is sky high and they pay big bucks in property taxes and yet I haven't heard anything about them trying to get tax breaks. I suppose it's a little different though because it's not like CP can pick up and leave which is exactly why Sandusky know they can put the screws to them.

Sure Sandusky has to provide some services because Cedar Point is in town such as paving roads more often, extra police patrols, etc, but I don't think they are spending anywhere near 25% of their budget on CP-related expenses. The fact is that most cities, Sandusky included, just have no clue how to run themselves.

I'm interested to see how the council member that owns Cedar Fair stock votes! :)

-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew
2003 Magnum Crew

If the tax was implemented, I wonder how much of it the city of Sandusky would share with Perkins Twp. After all, one could argue that the township deals with at least as many tourist related problems as the city does. :)

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Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

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I'm interested to see how the council member that owns Cedar Fair stock votes

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I wouldn't expect him to vote at all, due to conflict of interest. However, it may depend on how much he owns; my guess is that there are codified (or at least de facto) limits on what constitutes conflict. For example, I don't have to worry about performing research for company Foo unless I hold (a) an executive position with Foo, (b) an ownership interest of 5% or more of Foo, or (c) Foo stock valued at $10K or more.

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Gemini said:
If the tax was implemented, I wonder how much of it the city of Sandusky would share with Perkins Twp. After all, one could argue that the township deals with at least as many tourist related problems as the city does. :)

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Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

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Agreed! In point of fact, Perkins Twp. probably deals with more of the CP goers than the city. Most everything that would appeal to CP tourism is in Perkins. Such as restaurants, hotels, shopping, etc.... What major dept. store, or grocery store is actually within the city limits? Where is all the overflow traffic?

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If I win the lottery, I promise not to quit my job. Although, it may not take very long for me to be fired.
In the immortal words of Socrates, "I drank what?!"

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Dougster said:

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Pete said:
But that would cut off CP's revenue from the parking lot, not a good idea from a business point of view.

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Read the post.

"$49.95 is a small price to pay, and we'll probably pay it. What good is a "parking tax" if there isn't any paid parking facilties? :-D"

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I still don't like that idea. With your method, a family of four would pay $199.80 instead of $183.80, parking included. Also, an admission price that is six dollars more would be harder to market, especially with Six Flags being close by.

I still like the idea of flipping the toll and parking fees. Simple, effective and it would make a statement of where Sandusky could stick their parking tax.
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Florida may have Disneyworld and Key West,
but Ohio has Cedar Point and Put-In-Bay.
It's great to live in Ohio!

Good point, Pete. I didn't think of the math before. With my idea, it would cost a family of five(my size) $22.00 more for a trip. Lucky me. I have passes. But, you are right.

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If I win the lottery, I promise not to quit my job. Although, it may not take very long for me to be fired.
In the immortal words of Socrates, "I drank what?!"

If someone could help me here, I'd appreciate it. Ok, now where does this extra $.64 come in when you it comes down to the actual material money? For example, I don't think they are going to charge $8.64 to park, as it would be murder dealing with change in the parking lot...The Causeway would back up to Toledo.

So, is it a built-in expense of the $8 parking fee? If so, what does CP do about the lost revenue that they now have to incur with that being taken out of the parking account? Or, if passed, would the park round up/down parking to $9 or keep the fee at $8 and take a hit? At any rate, your parking revenue would go down, therefore hurting you, which is what the pro-tax people are saying it shouldn't do.

I hope that makes sense, I'm just wondering about the logistics of the operation.

Sandusky officials approve tax that will affect Cedar Point parking

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Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com
*** This post was edited by Gemini 4/15/2003 6:21:36 AM ***

Thanks again for the update, Walt. Disappointed, but not shocked by the vote. I feel bad that the city uses the park to get them out of financial trouble.

-Mikey
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Let your mind go...and your body will follow...

Well I hope Cedar Fair/Cedar Point sues the pants off the city of Sandusky.

Just an intresting quote I found "The city deserves a piece of the profit generated from tourists who come to the area, Fosco said. He criticized someone who wrote to him about the tax and criticized the city's stand on the issue."

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Speed Freaks - 2003

10 days until I process in.

*** This post was edited by coaster runner 4/15/2003 8:56:47 AM ***

i hope there is no parking tax...

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3 sayings to live life by:
"bite my grandma"
"does a mullet make a man?"
"Hi I'm Johnny Knoxville, welcome to Jackass"
*** This post was edited by rogue kielbasa 5/4/2003 10:02:47 AM***

Rogue they have already have passed the parking tax. For more information please go up to gemini's post.

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Speed Freaks - 2003

10 days until I process in.

"Cedar Point charges $8 to park for most vehicles and the city estimated it would generate 64 cents per car. However, it appears the tax will be imposed only on $7.50 of the parking cost, because 50 cents is a toll to pay for maintenance of the Cedar Point Causeway, the city and park officials said."

Someone mentioned this before, but CP could shaft them real easily by making parking $1 and the Causeway toll $7. That'd put a serious dent into the $600,000 they are expecting to make off this.

-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew
2003 Magnum Crew