reprinted from:
Hotel hike loses steam
By Cathy Woodruff, Staff Writer Albany County Executive Michael Breslin has suggested using a proposed hotel tax increase to support a city convention center, but legislative leaders say the tax hike still won't fly with them yet. Even though the legislature isn't expected to include the tax in the county budget, it appears both sides are willing to consider it outside budget discussions. In a letter Monday to County Legislator Frank Commisso, who chairs the Audit and Finance Committee, Breslin proposed modifying his plan to double the county's hotel occupancy tax from 3 percent to 6 percent next year. The revised plan would earmark the extra $1.5 million for the Albany convention center as soon as it opens. "The groundwork necessary for this important project is under way, and it is clear that the county will want to step up and do everything possible to provide necessary support," Breslin wrote. Mayor Jerry Jennings and his Albany Convention Center Task Force last month proposed using increased county sales tax revenue and an additional hotel room tax to help cover an estimated $8.5 million in annual debt payments and operating costs. When the report was released, the county was talking about a hotel tax hike. But legislative leaders said they're not ready to build next year's county operating budget on that tax hike, although they said Wednesday they remain open to eventually approving a hotel tax hike tied to a convention center. The Audit and Finance Committee removed the hotel tax revenue from the legislature's revised version of the budget Monday, instead counting on greater growth in sales tax revenue than Breslin's budget anticipated and a dip into the county's tax stabilization reserves. Commisso, also the Democratic majority leader, said too many other counties have failed when they sought state approval for local hotel taxes that would not have used the money for tourism-promoting projects. Commisso said he worries the county would be stuck with a budget shortfall if the necessary legislation was not approved by state lawmakers. "I just didn't feel comfortable with it," Commisso said. "I'm sure we'll be back some day with something similar, but it will be for a specific reason." Republican Minority Leader John Graziano Jr. said none of the hotel tax should go into the general fund -- not even temporarily, as Breslin proposes. "Once that money goes into the general fund, it will never come out," Graziano said. But Graziano and Albany Democrat Gary Domalewicz, both members of the Finance Committee, predicted there would be support for a hotel tax increase tied to an Albany convention center. "I do believe the convention center would
be in the best interests of Albany and Albany County, and in order to do
that, they would need that revenue," Graziano said. "But like everything in
Albany County, I want to see it materialize and come together first. ...
Right now, it's all concept." |
