The legendary Nevele may be back into business.
Even without details of the deal available yet, it is clear county taxpayers will benefit, says the county comptroller.
The news about the Nevele could not have been more welcome this week for Ulster County Comptroller Elliot Auerbach, who is fashioning a new initiative to increase county revenue from the county”™s bed tax on hotels and motels with input from the county”™s lodging industry.
The county currently charges a 2 percent room occupancy tax on top of the combined state and county sales tax rate, which is 8 percent.?The trends recently have not been positive, with revenues down from more than $1 million in 2008 to a total of $937,000 in 2009, less than the budgeted amount of $950,000. But through a campaign of education, enforcement and simplifying the county”™s current archaic bed tax, Auerbach believes the lodging industry can help the county and help themselves.
Part of Auerbach”™s strategy is to coordinate support for efforts to bring major hotels to the county, or to help restore operations at closed facilities. On Jan. 12, it was announced that a new group of investors has signed a binding contract to purchase the closed Nevele Grande Resort and Country Club, near Ellenville. ?Raphael Weiss, of Tricon Development, in Brooklyn, said Nevele Holding L.L.C., in conjunction with The Giluet Foundation, has signed a binding contract for the purchase of the resort. The deal is not finalized and no re-opening date is set. No details were given on the price or identity of the new owners. ?But, should it see fruition, the Nevele deal is just the sort of boost that Auerbach has been looking for. In his recent contacts with the county”™s hotels, motels and bed and breakfast facilities, he has said that the current Ulster County bed tax could be improved in a variety of ways that will help the county garner sorely needed revenue. He pointed out that of the $937, 000 the county received in 2009, $600,000 of it came from only 12 facilities, though there are about 175 lodging facilities in the county, including bed-and-breakfasts. Â
He could not immediately quantify what boost the Nevele could bring, but Auerbach did show that the stakes are high and the return very promising. A proposed 82-room hotel near the Thruway interchange in New Paltz, at 60 percent occupancy rate, would generate between $40,000 and $50,000 annually in county bed-tax revenue, with an additional $80,000 in county sales tax. He said additional unquantifiable benefits would arise from spending in area restaurants and shops.
To bring in new revenue from the lodging industry, Auerbach wants to update and simplify Ulster County”™s bed-tax legislation. It was originally adopted in 1991, suspended in 1993 and reinstituted in 2005. “It is a cumbersome piece of legislation” he said.
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Additionally he said the county had never updated lists of lodgings that must pay the tax. so that small businesses and homeowners who use their houses as vacation rentals might not know of their obligation to pay the tax. And, he said, even when a lodging business becomes aware of the tax, its documentation requirements are so complex that large businesses use accounting departments to meet their obligations. He said the law must be simplified so that in some cases, reporting requirements could be akin to the EZ 1040 form, with proprietors filling out a simple form and using a simple formula to figure their quarterly obligation under the lodging tax.
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“What I find exciting about of all of this is the total cooperation the lodging association has offered us,” said Auerbach. “It”™s a great public private partnership here.”
Lodgers sounded less enthusiastic, but nonetheless seemed willing to go with the program. “We were strong opponents of the tax originally, but our feeling is at this time we realize how tough times are and how strapped the county is for cash,” said Stan Ackerman, general manager of the Rocking Horse Ranch in Highland. “So we are not asking them to abolish it as long as more money goes to promoting tourism in the county.”
Of the roughly million dollars collected on average in recent years, only $150,000 of that money has gone to tourism related costs, such as promoting Ulster County.
“We always felt that was unfair,” said Ackerman. “Why tax one industry and not help that industry?”
He praised Auerbach and County Executive Mike Hein for using their first year in office to create better relations with the lodging industry, creating a public-private coalition and tourism advisory board. “They do listen to us,” said Ackerman. “I think we are making progress.”
In Dutchess County, the bed tax has helped create a strong tourism industry, said Mary Kay Vrba, the county director of tourism. Dutchess adopted a bed tax in 1984, charging the same 2 percent rate Ulster County charges now. By 2010, that tax has been increased so it is now 4 percent and in 2009 it brought in about $1.7 million in revenue, she said. The county has 99 lodging facilities, including 43 hotels and motels.
“The hotel tax allows us to bring more and more visitors into the area because it provides money for promotion,” said Vrba. “So I think is has become an investment.”
