Aberdeen city officials plan to support a countywide lodging tax moving through the Harford County Council, which would allow local governments to collect a 6 percent tax on area hotel and motel rooms.
Bel Air town officials, meanwhile, have some concerns about the new tax and how the money will be distributed, since their town isn't in line to receive any of it directly.
Other than the county government, Aberdeen, which has more than 1,200 hotel rooms inside the city limits, is expected to be the main beneficiary of the tax, introduced in legislation sponsored by County Executive Barry Glassman on Dec. 9.
A public hearing on the legislation, Bill 14-35, is scheduled before the Harford County Council at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 13 in the council chambers in Bel Air.
According to the bill, revenue from the 6 percent tax on the rent paid for rooms occupied less than 30 days would be split evenly, if the hotel or applicable lodging establishment from which it is collected is within one of the three local municipalities: Aberdeen, Bel Air or Havre de Grace.
"The remaining balance of the hotel occupancy tax revenue shall be paid to the county and dedicated to funding tourism," the bill states.
The bill also permits the municipal governments to levy a higher rate of tax, with the county receiving administrative expenses for collecting it on their behalf.
Hotel owners and operators will be required to register with the county and are subject to a $1,000 fine for failing to do so.
Aberdeen city officials have been pushing for such a tax for more than 20 years and, after required state authorization was approved in the 2014 Maryland General Assembly session, they anticipated the county's new administration would finally make the dream a reality.
Although the city has a large number of hotel and motel rooms along Route 40 and the I-95/Route 22 interchange, with more planned at the latter location, there are significant concentrations of rooms near the I-95/Route 543 interchange at Belcamp-Riverside and at the I-95/Route 24 interchange in Edgewood, both which are in unincorporated areas of the county.
Havre de Grace has a few motels along its Route 40 corridor and could eventually see more if the area around the I-95/Route 155 interchange eventually develops as expected. Bel Air, on the other, has no lodging facilities and few, if any, prospects for getting them, as it is six miles north of the interstate highway.
As a result, Bel Air leaders want some of the tax collected to go back to their town, even though it doesn't have any hotel rooms.
Incoming Del. Mary Ann Lisanti, a Democrat who will represent the Aberdeen, Edgewood, Riverside and Havre de Grace areas in Annapolis, said the distribution of hotel rooms is unequal.
"In Bel Air, there may not be a hotel, but they are driving visitors to the hotels," Lisanti said.
Lisanti, who just finished serving two terms on the Harford County Council, said the county may have put the cart before the horse. She suggested everyone involved should have gotten together to discuss their needs and wants and then come up with the legislation.
Aberdeen Mayor Mike Bennett, however, said he is glad the legislation is moving forward, although he may have ideally preferred the city recoup a larger part of the funds.
"It is what it is, and we had nothing going in, and now we are getting something coming out," Bennett noted.
Bennett said he discussed the issue over a recent breakfast with County Councilman Pat Vincenti, who represents the Aberdeen area, and Council President Dick Slutzky.
"It is certainly not what we are looking for but it is what the county is going to put in," he said. "I will fully support it."
City Manager Doug Miller said that if passed, the tax could help the city shave 2 cents off its property tax rate.
"That's going to help us considerably," Miller said of the proposed bill, noting the rest of the money would go toward Ripken Stadium, one of the county's major tourism destinations.
"Under that plan, we will be able to lower our property tax by 2 cents and also have enough money left over to start dealing with a 12-year-old facility that needs TLC," he said of the stadium.
Miller said having a predictable stream of revenue would be a big help to city officials in cutting tax rates.
The spirit of the legislation is that the boost to tourism from the tax would go back to hotel owners, thereby bringing more people to the county, Miller said.
"Hopefully it's a positive cycle rather than a negative cycle," Miller said. Also, "a rising tide rises all boats, so if they are going to be bringing more folks into Harford County they will be bringing more folks into Aberdeen, especially since we have most of the hotel rooms."
Glassman recently announced plans to privatize the county's Tourism and Marketing Division into the non-profit Visit Harford! organization.
"The proposed legislation does not tax Harford County residents. Instead, it levels the playing field for our citizens who are charged a hotel tax when they travel to every other Maryland jurisdiction, and throughout much of the nation, but do not benefit in-kind when travelers come to Harford County and use taxpayer-funded roads and services," Glassman said in a press release earlier this month.
He called the 6 percent rate a "reasonable" charge that falls in the average of rates charged around the state.