NORWICH - County officials say they want a game plan from Commerce Chenango on how the agency plans to spend a projected $20,000 excess reaped in occupancy taxes over the last year.

The county is estimating revenues of roughly $80,000 to be collected through the local occupancy tax, the 4 percent local tax on hotel, motel and bed and breakfast rooms throughout Chenango County. The County Board enacted the dubbed “bed tax” in 2019 as a way to foot dues owed to Commerce Chenango for its expertise in county-wide tourism and promotion.

But law restricts use of bed tax revenues specifically for local tourism. And since the county already contracts with Commerce Chenango for promotional services, many Board officials say it makes sense to give the agency extra cash for additional advertising and promotion. The problem, some argue, has been the lack of specifics of exactly how that money would be used.

A resolution authorizing appropriation of bed tax revenue was bounced back to committee at a meeting of the County Board of Supervisors earlier this month. Lawmakers say they not only want Commerce Chenango to provide more details before passing the resolution, but also want a final revenue figure before giving excess money away. The County Treasurer's Office won’t know how much revenue the bed tax generates until the year’s end.

“This essentially means a blank check,” said Norwich City Supervisor Robert Jeffrey, who moved to have the resolution sent back to the county’s Planning and Economic Development Committee for a closer look. “I don’t know what the revenue is going to be for the year. Where is it going to be spent? How is it going to be spent?”

Jeffrey added that although he’s an advocate of local tourism and economic development, “We need to have a plan.”

Commerce Chenango received nearly $41,000 from the county for tourism and promotion this year. But more than half that covers expenses paid by the agency to keep its place in state and regional tourism initiatives, like the Southern Tier Beverage Trail and the Susquehanna Waterway.

“There are things that we have to pay for automatically because we’re part of a statewide and region-wide initiative to promote tourism. Those things come right off the top and we’re out a big chunk of money,” said Commerce Chenango President and CEO Kerri Green.

Once all dues were paid, Geen said it left the agency with about $14,000 this year to promote local places and events, which it did primarily through print and online mediums, such as regionally distributed brochures and magazines. It also bolstered the “I Love New York” statewide campaign which provides matching funds for certain organizations and events.
Green said hopes are to use any extra money to grow those same efforts.

“Those are the things we buy into and those are the things we’re really limited on because of the amount of money we get,” she added.

Members of the county board may also consider allocating funds to other entities that promote local tourism, but were cautioned about the liability of “playing favorites” by the county attorney at an August meeting of the Planning and Economic Development Committee.

“Our organization was instrumental in getting that occupancy tax passed,” said Green. “The promise was that it would go to promote tourism, and that was everybody’s understanding. The problem is that nobody ever defined what that looked like. That’s why everyone feels like there’s extra money to be vied for when, really, it should go to the organizations that promote tourism; and that’s exactly what we would do with it.”

The resolution authorizing appropriation of bed tax revenue will go to the county’s finance committee for closer review next week. It could return to the Board of Supervisors for adoption in September.