State Legislature Approves Town Hotel Taxes

The New York State Assembly and Senate have passed Assemblyman Tom
Abinanti’s (D-Greenburgh/Mt. Pleasant) legislation, A5006/S3816 and
A2218/S3404 that authorize the Town of Mt. Pleasant to impose a
hotel/motel occupancy tax and the Town of Greenburgh to continue its
current hotel tax.

“This legislation ensures that Greenburgh and Mt. Pleasant benefit
from this non-property tax revenue like so many other towns and cities,”
said Assemblymember Abinanti. “This additional revenue eases the burden
on local property tax payers by collecting a small user fee on
out-of-towners staying in local hotels who benefit from using public
services provided by the towns and villages. This is a revenue-raising
alternative to local property taxes to fund basic and necessary
services.”

Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner provided the original impetus for
the Greenburgh bill. “Greenburgh receives about a million dollars a year
in Hotel Tax revenues from non- residents, not taxpayers. These
revenues have helped us keep taxes below the tax cap and have also
helped us maintain town roads that tourist use,” said Feiner.

While the Mt. Pleasant bill was supported by all town board members,
Councilwoman Francesca Hagadus-McHale took the lead in advancing the Mt.
Pleasant bill. "We must continue to seek ways to bring in revenue
without further burdening the residents who already pay exorbitant
property taxes,” said Hagadus-McHale. “The 3% fee added to hotel stays
will go directly to the Town to fund basic services such as road
maintenance, recreation and downtown revitalization. In the future we
expect another hotel on the Grasslands campus of the Westchester Medical
Center which will bring us considerable revenue.”

These bills would authorize nine local governments (Town of
Greenburgh, Town of Mt. Pleasant and Villages of Tarrytown, Elmsford,
Ardsley, Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, and Sleepy Hollow)
to collect a hotel/motel occupancy tax of up to 3%. To provide some
flexibility, the bill affords each municipality the ability to share a
tax collection process.

The bills are awaiting the Governor’s approval.