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Court again rejects hotel-tax lawsuit
By Bernard Harris and John M.
Spidaliere The state's Commonwealth Court has rejected the latest bid by county hotel operators to stop the planned Lancaster County Convention Center. The one-line ruling handed down Monday affirms the constitutionality of a county tax on hotel rooms and removes another legal challenge from the $35 million project, which has been mired in litigation for nearly three years. "The time has come for the hoteliers to realize they have played out their hand," James O. Pickard, chairman of the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority, said this morning. Months ago, said Pickard, a ruling like this would have been cause for celebration, now it is just another bump in the road. "I feel good about it, but I felt good before. How many times can you win before you resolve it? We won, we won, we won," said Pickard in a monotone voice. "The community is exhausted. We want to move forward and the hoteliers must accept that." Neither the hoteliers' attorneys nor several of the hoteliers could be reached for comment on the ruling this morning. Attorney Chris Stumpf, who has argued the convention center authority's case before the state Supreme Court and the Commonwealth Court, said the hoteliers may appeal again to the state Supreme Court, but the high court has already ruled on the case and will likely not want to hear it again. "I don't know what the hoteliers might do at this point," said Stumpf. "We hope they will stop with the litigation process. They have lost. All the courts have held the room tax to be constitutional." In its ruling Monday, the state's mid-level appellate court denied the appeal of the 11 hotel and motel operators to revisit its Oct. 4 decision. The ruling was signed by Commonwealth Court President Judge James Gardner Colins. Attorneys for the hoteliers contended the Commonwealth Court judges "misapprehended" issues in the case, and they asked them to reconsider the matter. Monday's ruling marks the second major legal defeat for the hotel and motel operators in recent months. In July, the state's Supreme Court upheld the 3.9 percent county tax on hotel rooms. Most of the revenues -- 80 percent -- from that tax are earmarked to fund construction and subsidize operation of the downtown convention center. The remainder of the revenue, as well as all of the revenue from an accompanying 1.1 percent room tax, go to the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau to promote county tourism. The convention center, to be built at South Queen and East Vine streets, will be connected to a $45 million privately funded hotel in the former Watt & Shand department store building. The Marriott hotel is being financed privately by Penn Square Partners, which includes general partner Penn Square General Corp., a High Industries' affiliate, and limited partners Fulton Bank and Lancaster Newspapers Inc., publisher of the Lancaster New Era, Intelligencer Journal and Sunday News. A groundbreaking for the hotel is expected in March. In October, the Commonwealth Court judges had affirmed the high court's opinion that the hoteliers didn't produce enough evidence during their first time in court to prove the tax hurt their businesses. The court said it would be "inappropriate" to give them a further opportunity to present new evidence. In their latest bid, the hoteliers argued that the case should be retried to allow them to present evidence about changes that occurred to the project after the December 2000 trial before Lancaster County Judge James J. Farina. The hoteliers are: Lancaster Host Resort and Conference Center, Eden Resort Inn and Conference Center, Continental Inn, Ramada Inn on Route 30, Hershey Farm and Restaurant and Motor Inn, Historic Strasburg Inn, Your Place Country Inn, Quality Inn & Suites, Best Western Revere Tavern, ARA Motel and Italian Villa Motel. Lancaster Mayor Charlie Smithgall, a longtime backer of the convention center plans, heralded the ruling. "It's a Christmas present for the city and the county," Smithgall said today. "Now I'd like to invite the 11 hoteliers to meet in City Hall and discuss how we can improve the future for them and for us." Smithgall said he believes that a convention center and hotel will increase tourism countywide. "It's not a case of dividing the pie into
smaller pieces," he said. "It's a case of baking a bigger pie." |
