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July 24, 2008

Bed-tax cop a possibility

Supervisors suspect some hotels are lax in reporting

By LOHR McKINSTRY

ELIZABETHTOWN -- Essex County may soon hire someone to investigate compliance with the county's occupancy-tax law.

The county collects more than $1 million annually from its 3-percent tax on rooms, but Lake Placid-Essex County Visitors Bureau President James McKenna believes they aren't getting all they're due.

McKenna said County Treasurer Michael Diskin is aware of the problem.

"I have been talking with Mike Diskin a little bit about occupancy-tax collections, and we are finding a lot of inconsistencies. Mike certainly knows about them, and the bottom line is I think there is some significantly lost county revenues out there."

He said a compliance officer might be needed to assist the Treasurer's Office in collecting the tax.

"I think Mike needs some help. I don't know how, but I think there has to be some sort of formula where we start monitoring a little bit more heavily because it is lost revenue out there."

Supervisor Randy Preston (I-Wilmington) said under-reporting or non-reporting the tax could be a problem.

"He (Diskin) told me that he honestly felt if they had some type of enforcement, somebody part-time, retired police officer or investigator of some type, that he thought it would be worth it and pay for itself."

Diskin said most lodging operators report and submit the occupancy tax, but problems exist.

"I know 99.5 percent of these people are right on the spot. I'm not saying we'll catch a lot of people. I think the thought it's (compliance checking) out there will influence a lot of people."

The county retains 5 percent of the tax collected for administration and enforcement purposes, and that money could be used to hire a compliance investigator, Diskin said.

It's not just non-reporting, he said, but reporting out of sequence -- such as switching between annual, monthly or quarterly reports without notifying them -- that also concerns him.

He said some businesses aren't operating anymore and stopped sending reports without telling them why.

"There's potential there to recover whatever extra," Diskin said. "It (an officer) might pay for itself."

In one instance, a news report that a hotel in Minerva was destroyed by fire made county officials realize it had never paid any bed-tax receipts.

In another case, a hotel in Lake Placid collected the bed tax but kept it, then went out of business.

Supervisor Roby Politi (R-North Elba) said his area has the highest concentration of lodging in the county.

"It affects my town the most. The hotel owners there would be very concerned if they found out there were others in their midst who weren't paying."

The local law that imposed the bed tax might have to be tightened, Supervisor Robert C. Dedrick (R-Ticonderoga) said.

"I don't know if we can go out and randomly look at the books. We know there's some inconsistencies."

The law allows penalties of a $1,000 fine or a year in jail and gives the county the authority to inspect books, County Attorney Daniel Manning III said. He said the local law also mandates the information that's collected be kept secret.

Manning said he's looking over the local law and will report to the County Board of Supervisors so a hiring decision can be made.

lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com

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