Greetings from Omaha!!
We are currently living here, thanks to the USAF, and the extremely high hotel/entertainment tax is mainly due to two things:
1.) A few years ago the city built the QWest Center -- our new home for sporting events, concerts, the circus, you name it! Along with that the city started revitlaizing the downtown area and even paid Hilton to build a convention hotel attatched to the QWest Center. This was the beginning of the high hotel tax. When the city saw how well it worked it seems like they increase it a bit every year.
2.) 2 new baseball stadiums!! One that was used to entice the NCAA to guarantee leaving the College World Series in Omaha for a VERY long time. This stadium will open next year, already 99% of the structural steel is in place and Rosenblatt stadium will be just a fond memory. Because of this structure, the tax is now the Hotel/Entertainmnet tax and it gets locals, too. All our restaurants, bars, etc. have increased their tax rate. The second stadium is for the Royals, a minor league team that currently plays at Rosenblatt but thought the new, downtown stadium would be too big and have negotiated for a smaller stadium of their own! Their new home is being built a few miles outside of Omaha in Papillion.
Hope you have a great trip, it sounds like a lot of fun!!
If you are looking for things to do in Omaha, just send me a PM and I'll try and help you out. I came here the first time kicking and screaming but was pleasently suprised! When the Air Force decided to send us back I couldn't wait to return.
