NEWS
May 25, 2008
City-church pact to aid homeless Homeless men and women will continue to sleep in the park at the foot of the Jones Falls Expressway, according to a memorandum of understanding between the city and the St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church. The Baltimore congregation is famous for defying city officials who wanted to eliminate homeless encampments. Arundel rejects hotel tax rise The Anne Arundel County Council rejected a proposal to raise the local hotel tax, bowing to pressure from local and state tourism officials and business owners who said the measure would drive away visitors strapped by the depressed economy.
NEWS
May 23, 2008
A few disciplined and determined Anne Arundel County Council members may have saved John R. Leopold from himself. Through deft budget cuts and the shelving of a few favored projects, the council found $43 million in the county executive's spending plan to meet the school system's needs and spare hoteliers an increase in the room tax. Council members may have satisfied worried education leaders and a vocal business lobby, but they've basically passed the...
NEWS
By Ruma Kumar | May 21, 2008
The Anne Arundel County Council rejected yesterday a proposal to raise the local hotel tax, bowing to pressure from local and state tourism officials and business owners who said the measure would drive away visitors strapped by the depressed economy. "Raising taxes should absolutely be a last resort," said Councilman Josh Cohen, an Annapolis Democrat. Council members said they found other ways to come up with the $6.3 million that would have been generated by increasing the tax from 7 percent to 10 percent, though they did not provide specifics.
NEWS
By Nicole Fuller | May 21, 2008
The Annapolis city council has delayed voting on its proposed $81 million operating budget for a second time, amid concerns over the prospects of a now-dead proposed hike in the Anne Arundel County hotel tax. The council's finance committee had originally suggested funding an extra $1 million in initiatives - including the restoration of $433,000 in grant money for nonprofits and $200,000 in air conditioning maintenance to city buildings - with an...
NEWS
By Steven Stanek | May 19, 2008
Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold's proposal to raise the hotel tax to generate revenue for the financially strapped school system has drawn sharp opposition from state and local tourism officials, who say it would have a devastating trickle-down effect on the county's economy. The measure - which combined with Maryland's 6 percent sales tax would give the county the state's highest checkout fee and one of the steepest in the country - will drive visitors to competing destinations, officials predicted, saying they've seen it happen elsewhere in Maryland.
NEWS
By Mary Gail Hare | December 9, 2007
Aberdeen officials say they will push state legislators for a local hotel tax, even though it appears that winning the delegation's support for the measure could be an uphill struggle. With 900 hotel rooms in the city, the tax could be a strong revenue source and could lead to a reduction in the city's property tax rate and offset expenses related to the city's Ripken Stadium lease, said Councilman Ronald Kupferman. "If we don't ask for it, we are beat before we even start," said Kupferman, a longtime advocate of a hotel tax. Because taxing authority comes from the General Assembly, neither the county nor its three municipalities can enact a tax without the enabling legislation from the state.
NEWS
By JEAN MARBELLA | November 13, 2007
Jim Mathias has lived in Ocean City long enough to remember when the big issue was whether to let a McDonald's or a 7-Eleven or some other intruder into town. The one-time mayor and city councilman also remembers the brouhaha over whether to keep the traffic lights on in the winter when OC returned to its sleepy, small-town self, rather than just during the busy summer tourist season. Change comes slowly and often with great angst to Maryland's summer playground, where much of the appeal is familiarity - the same hotel you went to as a kid, the same boardwalk, the same Thrasher's fries and Fisher's caramel corn, year after year, generation after generation.
NEWS
By Jill Rosen | July 27, 2005
The City Council's support for the convention center hotel plan seems increasingly linked to the willingness of Mayor Martin O'Malley's administration to open its wallet to assist struggling neighborhoods. With a vote to move the publicly funded hotel bill out of committee coming as early as this afternoon, and with a close vote expected, the plan's supporters have waged an intense campaign in recent days to win over the few still-undecided council members. Siding with inner city clergy who have demanded that if the city supports the $305 million hotel it must invest equally in efforts to combat blight, some council members who have opposed the hotel now say they will support it in exchange for redevelopment dollars.
NEWS
By Mary Gail Hare | November 4, 2004
The Carroll County commissioners unveiled a legislative agenda this week that would increase revenue without further taxing property owners. They also will ask the state delegation to help them provide tax relief to senior citizens. The commissioners will again ask the legislative delegation for the authority to impose a transfer tax on real estate transactions, a proposal that could add at least $7.5 million in revenue annually. In addition, they are proposing a 5 percent hotel tax that could generate about $250,000 a year.
NEWS
By Gerard Shields | June 8, 1999
Although Baltimore faces budget deficits amounting to $153 million over the next four years, the City Council gave preliminary approval yesterday to a $6.1 million tax break for developers of a proposed downtown hotel.Supporters of the 35-story hotel and garage on the site of the Southern Hotel at 1 Light St. say the project will add $3.3 million a year to city coffers from other levies, such as room taxes and parking fees.The council also gave preliminary approval to a measure that provides a $16.1 million construction loan for the hotel parking lot."