Gov. Andrew Cuomo authorized eight municipalities in Westchester County to implement an occupancy tax on hotel and motel patrons, following strong recommendations from state and local officials throughout the Lower Hudson Valley region.
On Dec. 31, the villages and towns of Harrison, Tuckahoe, North Castle, Mamaroneck, Port Chester, Dobbs Ferry, Greenburgh, and Hastings-On-Hudson were given the authority to levy the 3 percent occupancy tax.
Cuomo, a Democrat, approved the measures after vetoing the bills last year and expressing disinterest in granting towns and villages the ability to levy the tax.
State Assemblyman David Buchwald, a Democrat, explained that the desirability of the tax for local governments is that it provides municipalities the ability to generate revenue outside of the need to increase property taxes on local residents, since most patrons of hotels are from outside the community. “Hopefully this will enable property taxpayers to get a bit of relief and ensure folks that stay in hotels that make use of a town’s services to chip in a bit, too.”
Among those that already impose a hotel tax include the village of Rye Brook, the cities of New Rochelle, Yonkers, White Plains, and Rye—the first municipality in the county that was given the authority to levy the tax in 2006—and Westchester County, which implements a 3 percent hotel tax of its own.
Harrison Mayor Ron Belmont, a Republican, said the tax will likely generate as much as $600,000 for the town from stays at local hotels including the Renaissance Westchester Hotel, which is located at 80 West Red Oak Lane, the Hyatt House on Westchester Avenue, and the Westchester Country Club on North Street. Belmont added any amount of additional revenue could positively impact the town of Harrison, even $100,000. “Maybe we won’t have to be as stringent as we have in the past,” he said.
As of press time, there are only two hotels located in the village of Mamaroneck, the Mamaroneck Motel at 1015 W. Boston Post Road, and Vincent and Sons, located at 1514 E. Boston Post Road. Several lodges and country clubs would be affected by the law as well, including the Mamaroneck Beach and Yacht Club, the Beach Point Club, the Orienta Beach Club, and the Hampshire Country Club.
Mamaroneck Trustee Leon Potok, a Democrat, said, “The authorization to levy an occupancy tax on hotel and motel guests will allow the village to very slightly reduce its dependence on property taxes for funding expenses.”
There are currently no hotels in the village of Tuckahoe; however, the village Planning Board recently approved the controversial development of a Marriott SpringHill Suites hotel on Marbledale Road.
According to Buchwald, each municipality will generate a different amount of revenue from the tax, depending on how many hotels there are in each community. Further, Buchwald said there is no projected revenue estimates for any community at this moment.
“This is a victory,” said state Sen. George Latimer, a Rye Democrat who sponsored the Harrison and North Castle bills. “The state Legislature and our local governments came together, [and] I am pleased that these bills have been signed into law by Gov. Cuomo.”
According to state law, the hotel tax has a three-year sunset clause attached to it, meaning that it must be renewed by the state after its expiration.
