A ticket tax to help Grand Theater?

The renovation of the Wheaton Grand Theater has been taxing work for all involved, and may prove to be taxing on entertainment in the city in general.

Theater officials asked the city council this week to formally support the renovation by passing a resolution stating the importance of the venue to the city.

The council expressed its willingness to pass such a resolution and investigate at least two ways it can help the theater financially.

One method may have an impact on entertainment throughout the city.

It would involve the creation of a theater or entertainment tax. The tax would manifest in a $5 fee on ticket sales at the Wheaton Grand.

If the idea is approved, the city would collect the tax to raise money to help pay for a planned renovation of the 82-year-old theater in downtown Wheaton.

The city would collect the tax instead of the theater to create a middleman that would appease investors in the theater looking for a layer of security.

City lawyers are investigating if it's possible to create a tax that would apply only to the Wheaton Grand, and if not, what other venues such a tax could affect.

Councilman John Prendiville already suggested maintaining the entertainment tax even after the Wheaton Grand retires its debt for the city to use as a revenue stream.

Theater officials also want to use the city's bonding authority to borrow about $16.8 million in tax-exempt revenue bonds for the renovation. The deal would leave the city with zero financial obligations to pay the debt back if the theater faltered, Prendiville said.

The city council indicated a willingness to investigate all the requests with the view of the theater potentially becoming the downtown's anchor attraction.

A feasibility study for the theater estimates the 1,150-seat venue would bring at least 235,000 people to the downtown over the course of 394 performances each year. Those numbers reflect seats only 70 percent full.

Ray Shepardson, who's handling the renovation, said he expects audiences regularly at 85 percent capacity. He plans to meet that by giving regular subscribers what amounts to a 50 percent discount on tickets in a "buy three, get three free" program.

With a newly guaranteed $13 million price tag to renovate the theater, the project would begin construction next spring and open doors in early 2009.