Hotel Tax

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."

The Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce unveiled a legislative package yesterday that supports an increase in the state gasoline tax, more funds for higher education and a cut in the hotel tax.The chamber supports a "modest increase" in the state's 23.5-cent gasoline tax but does not have a specific amount in mind, said Robert L. McKinney, president. The chamber's package also calls for increased funding for the two four-year colleges in the county, Towson University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and for cutting the county's 8 percent hotel room tax in half.

Brushing aside criticism of an unfair tax break, the Baltimore City Council cleared the way last night for construction of a controversial Inner Harbor East hotel by freeing developers from paying city property taxes for the next 25 years.The 14-4 vote should allow the builders of the Wyndham Inner Harbor East Hotel, including Baltimore bakery magnate John Paterakis Sr., to break ground on the 31-story, $134 million project by the end of June.As about two dozen opponents of the project chanted, "Wyndham no, children yes," council supporters listed new jobs, expansion of the tourism industry and other new tax income for the city as reasons to favor the 750-room hotel to be located on the waterfront near the intersection of President and Lancaster streets.

DEVELOPER Harvey Schulweis' intention to build a 600-room Westin hotel downtown without public subsidies challenges the basic economic assumptions of Baltimore's highly politicized quest for more hotel rooms.Why would two competing builders need big favors from taxpayers, if Mr. Schulweis can finance a 28-story hotel from private sources?This is a question the City Council must probe Wednesday when it meets to consider a request by builders of the $134 million Inner Harbor East Wyndham hotel for $40.9 million in public aid, mostly in tax breaks.

WAS Parris N. Glendening a prudent chief executive in Prince George's County or did he leave behind a $108 million deficit?Did he shortchange the county's schools, too?Listening to the governor's detractors, you would certainly think so. But a closer examination shows that opponents may be only half-right.Fiscal faultsYes, the record indicates Mr. Glendening planted some fiscal time bombs when he left there for the State House. They indeed exploded after his successor, Wayne K. Curry, took control of that subdivision.

Warning that a planned hotel tax increase would devastate Baltimore's convention trade, Gov. Parris N. Glendening and legislative leaders pushed an alternative yesterday that would substantially boost promotion spending without increasing the tariff for hotel guests.The 11th-hour move would hold the overall tax on hotel bills at 12 percent, while increasing the amount to attract conventions and tourists to as much as $5 million, from the current $2.8 million.The move comes a week after Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke announced plans to increase the city's hotel room tax rate from 7 percent to 9.9 percent.

After months of increasingly urgent warnings that inadequate marketing jeopardized Baltimore's convention trade, the General Assembly was expected last night to more than double spending in the coming year for the agency that markets the center.The move, in the final hours of the legislative session, would increase the fiscal year 1997 budget for the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association from about $2.8 million to nearly $6 million.The state Senate passed the hefty increase in amendments to a bill increasing Washington County's hotel tax, to promote Civil War tourism.

Amid a storm of protest from hoteliers, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has decided to give them a week to come up with alternatives to raising the city's hotel tax to finance the city's share of the $150 million Baltimore Convention Center expansion.Mr. Schmoke said last week that he had planned to seek approval today from the mayor-controlled Board of Estimates to increase the tax from 7 percent to 9.9 percent.Including the 5 percent state sales tax, the move would raise Baltimore's nightly hotel tariff to 14.9 percent, the highest rate on the East Coast.

In a move that drew warnings of dire consequences for Baltimore tourism, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said yesterday that he plans to increase the city's hotel tax to nearly 10 percent, making the total tax on a city hotel room the highest on the East Coast.The nightly room tariff would rise from 7 percent to 9.9 percent on June 1, to cover the next fiscal year's $4.3 million principal and interest payments on the city's $50 million share of the Baltimore Convention Center expansion.The room tax is in addition to the 5 percent state sales tax, raising the total tax to 14.9 percent.

Efforts to promote Baltimore County received a setback yesterday, as the county executive refused to earmark part of hotel tax revenue for the Baltimore County Conference and Visitors Bureau.Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger III, however, did offer a challenge grant of up to $40,000, committing the county to allocate $2 for every $1 the bureau raises by March."I know it's not good news to you," Mr. Ruppersberger, citing county budget restraints, told bureau members at a monthly meeting.

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.

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...

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."