Lodging group rejects tax increase plan

Ten of Carson City's largest hotels say they don't want the city to increase the hotel room tax by three cents, a proposal many had considered supporting last year.

In a statement released Wednesday, Terrie McNutt, director of sales and marketing at Courtyard by Marriott, speaking on behalf of the lodging properties said any tax increase would hurt business for the capital's hotels given sluggish occupancy rates.

"Any increase in room tax with already falling occupancy levels and current economic conditions would result in a huge loss to our lodging properties and ultimately a loss of tourism revenue in Carson City," McNutt wrote. "Travel is one of the first things cut from budgets of both businesses and families. We need to keep a competitive edge over our surrounding counties. Carson City's 10 percent tax is a great marketing tool for us over Douglas and Washoe counties."

The city has been in talks with the lodging properties about raising the room tax by three cents to help fund improvements at local sports facilities used by traveling teams that come to Carson City for tournaments, and in turn, stay in hotels. About a third of the increase would go to marketing efforts for the V&T Railroad and the Carson City Convention & Visitor's Bureau.

City Manager Larry Werner said the conversation is not over and expected the lodging properties to be back at the table in a matter of weeks.

"We just don't have a real plan yet," Werner said.

Candy Duncan was informed about the statement late Wednesday afternoon.

"I think that is very interesting and I look forward to working with the lodging properties and finding ways of bringing more visitors to Carson City," she said.