Regardless of poll wording, French Quarter inns are exempt from this safety tax | Native Politics

A tax deal signed with the French Quarter Management District on Thursday marked the final step in resuming increased police patrols in the Vieux Carré and apparently ended a controversial process of the past 1½ years.

But there is something in the deal that voters never considered when they approved the tax in April: Hotel rooms are exempted from the new sales tax paid by the additional police.

There will be increased police presence in the French Quarter after funding for additional patrols in the area for the next …

The additional police patrols are generally popular, but the hotel exemption is controversial; Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration, the Louisiana State Bond Commission, and the nonprofit Bureau of Governmental Research argued against it. A member of the French Quarter agency’s board of directors who oversees tax revenue fears the tax exemption could lead to a lawsuit over objections from the bond commission or a voter who feels betrayed.

“It’s not an anti-hotel thing; we all want hotels to survive and thrive. But we didn’t vote to exempt them, ”said Robert Simms, a Cantrell-appointed member of the Board of Commissioners. “That could get the whole thing into litigation, which would delay the start of putting additional resources on the streets. That’s why I’m worried. “

The April 24 referendum called on voters to approve a 0.25% sales tax, which is estimated to raise an estimated $ 2.5 million annually. The first $ 2 million goes to police patrols, and anything beyond that goes to “Aid to the Homeless”. A similar five-year sales tax expired in late 2020 after voters refused to renew it.

The additional police patrols in the French Quarter, known for their pimped up smart cars and dispatch-via-app technology, were canceled due to a lack of …

An earlier draft of the April vote included the exception of hotel rooms. But the Borrowing Commission, which has authority over the language of the referendum, concluded that the exception was illegal. The city council, which officially acted as the special tax authority of the French quarter, then lifted the exemption and received approval from both the bond commission and the electorate.

In August, however, Councilor Kristin Gisleson Palmer, whose district includes the French Quarter, the liberation revived in a municipal council resolution to collect the tax. Collections begin in October for all sales in the French Quarter, with the exception of hotel rooms.

Palmer admitted in an interview that the removal of the ballot exemption was intended to “clean” it for approval by the bond commission. However, she said the previous sales tax included a room exemption and, like the current one, was added by a council decision after a vote that was missing.

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“It’s exactly the same tax that was levied from the start. There were no changes, ”said Palmer. “It’s just being restored.”

New Orleans City Councilor Kristin Gisleson Palmer was photographed Thursday, June 3, 2021.

EMPLOYEE PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE

But the circumstances on which the liberation is based are different this time. Nadine Ramsey, Palmer’s predecessor on the council, backed the previous room exemption in a council decision in 2016, when the hospitality industry was already advancing through a voluntary rating of hotel rooms for the public safety and infrastructure of the French Quarter. But the industry stopped generating that revenue last year with the pandemic.

This is one of several reasons why the Bureau of Governmental Research rejected the current space exemption in a report last month. Among other things, the independent nonprofit said that tax standards in the United States include hotel rooms in sales tax.

The city of New Orleans collected $ 466,671 through a special sales tax in the French Quarter in the first six months of the year, despite the tax …

The Bond Commission, meanwhile, has determined that local sales tax exemptions are illegal unless lawmakers have granted them to all tax authorities. A spokesman for the bond commission did not want to comment on Thursday.

The heads of the French Quarter Management District said they are moving on now that the agency has signed a collaboration agreement with the city.

“We have answered these questions over and over again. We have the CEA. We are in the process of finalizing the budget to get enough officers to actually meet the CEA, ”said Executive Director Karley Frankic.

Cantrell said it too continues despite “deeply concerned that the hotel exemption is inconsistent with the State Bond Commission,” according to a statement by spokesman Beau Tidwell. “We have shared our concerns with all parties. [Palmer] decided to promote the exception anyway. “

The statement went on to say that the Cantrell government “is delighted to have finally reached an agreement after long delays”.

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