Assembly Passes Abinanti Legislation to Authorize Hotel/Motel Occupancy Tax

The New York State Assembly passed Assemblyman Tom Abinanti’s (D-Greenburgh/Mt. Pleasant) legislation that authorizes the Town of Greenburgh and all of the villages within the Town, and the village of Sleepy Hollow in the Town of Mount Pleasant to impose a hotel/motel occupancy tax within their boundaries.

“These municipalities provide additional services because of the presence of hotels within their boundaries,” said Abinanti, who represents the Towns of Greenburgh and Mount Pleasant. “Property taxpayers need relief and municipalities need additional non-property tax sources of revenue to fund basic services.”

The bill also requires that the municipality levying the tax set aside one-sixth of the taxes collected to promote economic development and tourism.

“It is unfair that Greenburgh, the second largest municipality in Westchester, cannot collect an occupancy tax while several smaller municipalities can,” said the Westchester Assemblyman.