Silver bill would hike Sullivan’s hotel tax
Monticello - There is an 11th-hour move in Albany to hike Sullivan County’s hotel room tax.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, introduced legislation this week authorizing the county to increase the tax from 2 percent to 5 percent. County legislators say they won’t increase the tax unless language in the legislation is changed.

In January, the county passed a Home Rule request seeking an increase. However that bill also included a change enabling the county to collect room tax from tax-exempt bungalows and lodgings. With the room tax increase, the county expected to raise up to a half-million dollars this year and $700,000 annually. But without the law change, forget it, the county says.

“That is as important as the increase, it levels the playing field,” said Finance Committee Chairman Jonathan Rouis. Silver’s legislation seemed to catch state lawmakers by surprise. Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, D-Forestburgh, said yesterday she didn’t know that the legislation was introduced until a reporter brought it to her attention. She wouldn’t say how she’d vote on it, though she has maintained a public stance against raising taxes.

It just never ends………………………………..