The Commerce City Council may have found the closest thing to a tax no one will oppose.
When it meets Monday night at 6:30 in the Commerce Civic Center, the council anticipates asking its attorney to draft an ordinance that would levy a five-percent tax on hotel and motel rooms in the city.
There are no hotels or motels in Commerce, which is one reason why the council wants to enact the tax.
“Through annexation or development, there is a strong probability we will have one,” explained Downtown Development Authority executive director Hasco Craver.
The proposed tax would not apply to bed and breakfast inns.
Craver briefed the city council on its tax options, having attended a Department of Community Affairs seminar on the tax.
Actually, the city council may have already passed such a tax, but if so, it is not “on the books.”
Mayor Charles L. Hardy Jr. recalled that in his first meeting as mayor the subject came up and the council passed an ordinance.
“But they can’t find any record of it,” the mayor said.
If the council follows through, the tax could be in place by the end of the year.
While there are no hotels or motels in the city, a sign on developer John Purcell’s property just south of the Tanger Factory Outlet Centers has been promoting the future placement of a Microtel hotel for more than two years.
If the tax passes and if a hotel or motel comes into the city, 40 percent of the revenue generated by the tax would have to be used to promote tourism. The rest could go into the city’s general fund.
