reprinted from:
Town seeks more revenue from hotel tax
By Kimberly
Atkins, Globe Staff Correspondent ROCKLAND - Town officials appealed to Beacon Hill legislators on Tuesday to pass a bill that would increase the town tax revenue from its three hotels. Larry Ryan, chairman of the Rockland Board of Selectmen, and Town Administrator Bradley Plante testified before the Joint Committee on Taxation in support of a bill that they say is needed to secure much needed income and save residents from increased taxes in the form of future debt exclusions. The home rule petition, co-sponsored by state Senator Michael W. Morrissey of Quincy and a fellow Democrat, Representative Robert J. Nyman of Hanover, would exempt Rockland from the state law capping the local hotel tax rate at 4.5 percent. It also would authorize and direct the establishment of a capital improvement fund for town projects. Three-quarters of the funds raised from the proposed hotel tax would go to the capital improvements trust, and the remaining 25 percent would be earmarked for the town's stabilization fund. Plante said that the measure is especially needed in the current economic climate to save taxpayers from the prospect of additional Proposition 2 1/2 override tax increases to fund capital improvement projects and deal with other unexpected expenses. "Other opportunities here for additional revenue are very limited," Plante said. Rockland is one of the few mid-South Shore communities with an appreciable hotel presence. Situated on Hingham Street, just off Route 3, are three hotels - a Radisson Inn, Comfort Inn and Holiday Inn, which have a combined 304 rooms. In addition, plans are in the works for a fourth, a 101-room Extended Stay America hotel on Hingham Street that would cater to longer-term business patrons. "This is the one area where it may be possible to gain a little bit more money for the town of Rockland," Ryan said after the hearing before state legislators. "We explained . . . that the state funding is very bad in town. We don't get nearly as much as some of the big cities." Morrissey said he drafted the home rule petition to allow Rockland to benefit as have other towns, including nearby Quincy, from raising local hotel taxes. In Quincy, hotel and motel guests are charged a 7.7 percent tax on top of the 5.7 percent state hotel tax. In Boston, hotel patrons pay a city tax of 4 percent and an additional convention center fee of 2.75 percent. Plante said hiking the tax just 2 percent would raise an additional $140,000 annually. "It's a small thing, but [the tax] doesn't fall on the backs of residents," said Morrissey. "In a small town, $140,000 could go a long way." Ryan said that the prolonged stagnating economy and dwindling state aid will make it increasingly difficult for the town to purchase equipment, such as ladder trucks for the fire station. A truck that the Fire Department purchased this year, for example, cost the town about $500,000. He also said that capital improvement and stabilization funds would cover emergencies. In a related matter, Morrissey filed a bill for next year that, if passed, would amend the current state law, raising the cap on the local hotel and motel tax rate from 4.5 percent to 6 percent. He said he hopes he will be able to work with members of the new Mitt Romney administration to use this and other creative ways to raise funds on a local level without raising resident taxes. "I want to work with the new administration
in looking into alternative revenue sources," Morrissey said. "This is more
of a fee than a tax." |
