With a hearing on the subject scheduled for the December meeting, the Sterling Township Board of Supervisors is nearly set to approve a four percent tax on hotel patrons staying in the Township.
After months of debate, research, and waiting for resolution of a tax assessment appeal for Howe’s Comfort Inn at the intersection of Rt. 191 and Interstate 84, a draft ordinance is finally ready, and pending one minor revision, will be put before the people of the Township for discussion December 14 at 7 p.m.
Conceived as a way of shoring up the Township’s financial revenues in these trying times, the tax would impose no burden whatsoever on residents, say the Supervisors, but would require anyone renting a room for less than 30 days in the Township to pay the four percent per night tax.
If adopted, the tax would be pro-rated if meals were included in the room price, based on how many meals were included.
During discussion of the tax at the meeting, Solicitor Jeffrey Treat brought up the possibility that summer camps might be affected by the tax if their services ran less than 30 days. The Supervisors all agreed they did not intend for the tax to affect anyone except transient hotel occupants, and therefore asked Treat for a clause in the ordinance explicitly ruling out camps.
The Township would require hotel operators to open and operate a dedicated bank account for tax revenues, so activity could be audited by the Supervisors without having to get into the books of the business as a whole. There will be 1.5 percent interest charged on any taxes not collected.