AUBURN - Cayuga County legislators defeated a bill Tuesday night requesting state authorization to increase the county's Hotel and Motel Room Tax from 3 to 5 percent.

The bill may have saved county taxpayers even more than the $418 the occupancy tax relieves each household of annually.

Legislators voted 7-6 in favor of the bill, but due to the absence of two legislators the bill was defeated using the county's weighted voting system.

Prior to voting, Meg Vanek, executive director of Cayuga County Office of Tourism, briefed legislators stating that the county has the second lowest tourism budget in the area.

“We're not going to be able to compete with neighboring counties the way we should be,” Vanek said following the vote. “It won't set us back but we won't be able to move forward.”

After a polling of county hotels, motels and inns, she reported that 81 percent said they supported an increase as long as the funding went toward tourism promotion.

If legislators supported the increase and state officials authorized the request, Vanek and her office could have received about $125,000 in additional revenue to use for a plan to expand county tourism marketing and promotion efforts.

Legislator David Pappert, R-Auburn, voted against the increase due to the uncertainty of where the additional revenue would go. Last year, the county received about $226,000 in revenue from the tax.

He requested that a statement be added to the resolution that assured the tourism office receives all the funding.

“I'm going to make sure the money gets into the right hands,” Pappert said. “I'm only going to support it if we can ensure it's going to the tourism office.”

Vanek explained that the occupancy tax revenue is directed toward tourism promotion and that her office is contracted by the county to receive it. She added that she didn't believe the contract had an expiration date. County Attorney Fred Westphal said he couldn't add a specific request like Pappert's to the law.

Peter Tortorici, R-Auburn, supported the request when it was presented to the county Planning and Economic Development Committee earlier in April but changed his mind during the vote Tuesday night.

“I wasn't aware that the money may be used for other things. I wish I was aware of this earlier, but there's always stuff you're not aware of,” Tortorici said.

Tortorici said he wanted to question Westphal further about when he stated “at this point” the money is directed to the tourism office.

“At this point this is the way it is. But it sounded like at some point it could be changed,” Tortorici said.

He said he wanted to ask Westphal to clarify his statement during the meeting but Mike Lepak, D-Auburn, called the question ending all discussion of the resolution on the floor.

“I want the money to go to tourism. I want to make sure they can strengthen up the contract so that it ensures it goes to tourism,” Tortorici said. “If I can get the answer to my questions I would bring it back up. My intent is to try and secure that money and assure it's used for tourism.”

Tortorici said that once a resolution is defeated it can be brought back up by any legislator who voted against the resolution.

Staff writer Kristina Martino can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kristina.martino@lee.net