Opinions differ on proposed Buffalo hotel occupancy tax
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BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- As the race to become Buffalo's mayor heats up, a top-of-mind topic is Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon's proposal for a hotel bed tax.
At his State of the City Address last week, Scanlon said many hotel owners he spoke with support the idea -- but not everyone agrees.
WIVB News 4 sat down with Patrick Kaler, president and CEO of Visit Buffalo Niagara. Kaler said he heard speculation about the hotel bed tax idea, but did not officially get word of it from Scanlon until his address.
"We wouldn't be in this place possibly if we were able to have these conversations before," said Kaler. "We wouldn't have this tug of war between City Hall and our tourism industry."
Scanlon is looking to instill the proposed tax in order to bring money back into the Queen City. Scanlon said Buffalo has infrastructure that tourists utilize when they visit, such as the Buffalo Zoo and Shea's Performing Arts Center, but that they shouldn't be able to do so for free.
Kaler feels differently, saying tourists pay enough by eating at local restaurants and shopping in Western New York malls.
"To have that kind of attitude doesn't necessarily fly with me," said Kaler. "I feel like our visitors are already paying their fair share when they come to our destination."
Erie County already has a 13.75% hotel bed tax, which would bring the total to 16.75% if this passes. Kaler said that would put Buffalo on an equal playing field with San Francisco. He believes it would make bringing people into Buffalo a real challenge.
"Meeting planners and sports rights holders when they're looking at a city and a destination to bring their place of business, those are the types of things that they look at," Kaler said. "Once this goes out, and if it would pass, it will be a story for the trade publications."
Kaler said as a Buffalo resident, he has concerns about the city facing a budget shortfall of around $50 million. But he said this tax will not generate a number even close enough to fill that gap.
"It will generate maybe $2 million," Kaler said. "Do you really want to put the city's reputation in jeopardy for that? Are there other ways to generate $2 million?"
Kaler said that since the State of the City Address he has had conversations with Scanlon about what this could mean for the state of tourism in Western New York. Kaler hopes those conversations continue in the future.
Trina Catterson joined the News 4 team in 2024. She previously worked at WETM-TV in Elmira, a sister station of WIVB. See more of her work here.