North Carolina House Bill would let counties boost hotel tax 

By Paul Schuler and Adrienne Lu
Copyright 2001 The News & Observer
Article date: July 19, 2001
 

A state House committee Wednesday included Johnston County in a bill allowing more than a dozen counties and cities to increase or create taxes on hotel rooms.

The bill, which passed the Finance Committee, now goes to the full House for approval. A similar version already has passed the Senate.

Johnston County was temporarily singled out of the bill so the committee could hear from motel owners opposed to the tax and from the Johnston County Visitors Bureau, which wants the money to pay for a new convention center.

The county now charges a 3 percent occupancy tax on hotel rooms, with revenue going to promote tourism. The bill would allow the county commissioners to raise the tax to 6 percent, with a portion of that eligible to pay for a convention center.

But hotel owners argued that raising the tax could hurt business, particularly along Interstate 95, where most of the county's hotels are located.

"These tourists do not mind traveling to the next county," said Becky Brannon, manager of the Royal Inn in Selma.

Twenty-five of the county's 26 hotel operators signed a petition in opposition.

The Visitors Bureau said the tax would benefit hotel owners in the long run by paying for a convention center that could bring in new business.

"It would mean a different kind of business for them," said Donna Bailey-Taylor, executive director of the bureau.

Regardless of whether the bill clears the General Assembly, the Visitors Bureau may have difficulty persuading the Johnston County Board of Commissioners to levy the tax.

Several on the Republican-dominated board vowed during their election campaigns that they would not raise taxes. They said they would stick with their pledges by voting against the hotel tax.

"I guess I could sum it up in three words: I'm against it," said Commissioner Wade Stewart. "I think that tax would be somewhat detrimental to the hotel industry in Johnston County, and therefore I'm opposed to it."

Stewart said he wasn't convinced the convention center is necessary. "I think it's about 10 or 15 years before its time right now," he said.

He said a feasibility study "indicated that Johnston County was not an ideal location for conventions, especially with the economy sagging like it is."

Commissioner Thomas M. Moore, the lone Democrat on the board, is also against raising the hotel tax.

"I think if we're going to have a tax we've got better things to put it to use in Johnston County, like open space," Moore said.

The Visitors Bureau plans to make the case for the center to the commissioners Sept. 4, Bailey-Taylor said.

"We have a lot of work to do," she said. "It's a vision."
 

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