reprinted from:
Kure Beach won't
take tax
By Mark Schreiner, Raleigh Bureau Chief RALEIGH - Kure Beach officials said they have sent notice to state lawmakers that even if they pass a local-option hotel tax increase, the town probably won't take it. Mayor Betty Medlin said Friday that the Town Council sent a copy of a letter a day earlier to state Rep. Danny McComas, whose beach towns tax bill is working its way through the Senate. While the town asked for the authority, it is "not likely to enact this tax in the near future," the letter stated. Town officials said they still wanted the authority to exercise the option "for this or future councils should the financial situation" demand it. The letter was addressed to state Sen. Patrick Ballantine, R-New Hanover, and was sent following a meeting in which the Town Council received a petition from motel owners arguing against any tax increase. The McComas measure would convert the Cape Fear Region Convention and Visitors Bureau into a tourism development authority and would allow the elected boards of Kure Beach, Carolina Beach and Wrightsville Beach to increase the sales tax on hotel rooms and rentals up to 3 cents on the dollar. The towns, in partnership with the tourism authority, could spend the revenue to improve tourist amenities and market the communities to travelers. A companion bill sponsored by Rep. Thomas Wright, D-New Hanover, would give similar discretion to the Wilmington City Council, with the revenue earmarked to build a downtown convention center. "All the bill does is give local governments the authority to raise the tax," said Sen. Ballantine. "The way the law is cur rently written, local governments ask the general assembly for the authority, we choose to grant it and local governments decide whether to raise the tax." Rep. McComas said Friday that he had not yet seen the Kure Beach letter but has earlier correspondence from town officials saying they support his bill. "Even so, if you look at the bill, the towns have to pull that trigger," he said. "It's up to the beach communities; we in Raleigh won't make that decision." The mayor and council members passed resolutions on June 10 and June 27 urging the General Assembly to give it authority to raise the hotel tax, if the Town Council deemed necessary, by up to 3 cents on the dollar. Ms. Medlin attended a House Occupancy Tax Subcommittee meeting late last month with other New Hanover County mayors who support the hotel-tax increase. At that meeting, Wrightsville Beach Mayor Avery Roberts spoke for the beach town governments, saying the tax was needed to help pay for tourism-development projects. Carolina Beach officials support the tax and have begun making plans. "We've only been working on this for about three years," said Mayor Ray Rothrock. "A lot has been said and planned." His town would probably use some of the estimated $177,000 annual revenue to offset the $200,000 yearly cost of lifeguard service, he said. Ms. Medlin now says her town only backed the bill because it wanted to support its neighbors. "The primary reason we supported it was so that the other places that said they really needed it, Carolina Beach and Wilmington, could get it," she said. "We were never really sure we were going to enact it in the first place." On Tuesday, Kure Beach motel operators presented their town board a petition against the tax increase. "Raising the cost of a room will cut down on the demand, it's that simple," said Gilbert Alphin of Blue Marlin Apartments Beach Lodging. "Also, the day-trippers, who cost the town money, won't pay any of that tax. The person who stays at a motel would bear the burden of this." The county currently assesses a 3 percent tax on hotel rooms and rentals, in addition to the regular sales tax of 6.5 percent. That money is divided between a fund for beach renourishment and promotion efforts of the visitors' bureau. If the McComas and Wright bills were enacted and all the local boards exercised their full options, the total sales tax rate on a hotel room bill would be 12.5 percent. The two bills will likely be discussed in the Senate Finance Committee next week and, Senators agree, may be voted on soon after. Both bills already have House approval. General Assembly leaders said Thursday they
expect next week to be the last in the 2001-02 session. |
