A hotel-motel tax sounds like a winning arrangement, providing revenue to county coffers paid for by people who don”™t elect county officials.
But a recent report by the Ulster County comptroller shows how the practice of collecting such taxes is more complicated than advocates of the practice might acknowledge.  ?County Comptroller Elliott Auerbach issued a report Sept. 27 contending that while the so-called bed tax in the county should have generated some $3.3 million in 2009 occupancy taxes, the county only received some $964,000.
He said it is because the county Department of Finance has not properly tracked the lodging industry.?County Deputy Commissioner of Finance Wanda Prowisor, however, questioned the accuracy of the report saying that the comptroller used inaccurate lists of overnight accommodations and included facilities run by nonprofit entities, which are exempt from taxes.
Ulster collects a 2 percent occupancy tax. According to a study by Tourism Economics, visitors to the county spent $167 million on lodging in 2009.
“By my calculation two percent of that $167 million is $3.3 million in revenue yet the county”™s annual financial reports for 2008 and 2009 indicate revenues of $1,025,522.00 and $964,038.00 respectively,” Auerbach stated in the report.?He concludes some of the discrepancy results from noncompliance with the law and some from outdated information regarding who should pay the tax.
“We also conducted a search of hotels/motels, bed and breakfasts, inns and camp and lodgings operators through various Internet sites and identified 90 hotel/motel operators we did not find listed on the Department of Finance master list,” Auerbach wrote in the report.
In a statement responding to the comptroller”™s report, Prowisor wrote that many of the 90 operators Auerbach identified as not being on the commissioner of finance”™s master list included properties either exempt from the local law or doing business under another name.?She also cited not-for-profit organizations such as Frost Valley YMCA; state-owned properties such as Woodland Valley Campground and Wilson State Park; religious organizations such as Mount St. Alphonsus; and non-lodging establishments such as Hudson Valley Sports Dome.
Auerbach recommended that county officials process filings faster and  “protect hotel/motel tax revenues by requiring … operators file a bond” that would secure the payment of any occupancy tax and penalties that may become due. ?“Many of the recommendations of the comptroller are activities that are already undertaken by the commissioner of finance,” Prowisor wrote. The finance commissioner already sends notification to lodging establishments urging registration and identifying the penalties. She said the commissioner has the discretion to allow other than quarterly filings, particularly for seasonal operators.
She faulted Auerbach”™s methodology, saying extrapolating from a report on total tourism revenue did not provide an accurate figure for what the bed tax should be, because the amount spent on lodging cited in the report includes more revenue sources than merely the cost of the room.
