COOPERSTOWN _ A resolution to amend Otsego County's bed-tax law by excluding for-profit youth baseball camps narrowly failed at Wednesday night's county board meeting.
The failed resolution leaves the local law intact, with camps such as the Cooperstown Dreams Park liable, on paper, to pay the 4 percent tax on accommodations.
However, the county is not trying to collect the tax and County Attorney James Konstanty has opined that taxing for-profit youth baseball camps is not legal because it exceeds authority granted by the state.
A bed, or occupancy, tax can be levied only on accommodations that are open to the public, he said.
In 2006, with the advice of former county Attorney Rodney Klafehn, the board added a provision to the bed tax to include the camps.
When the county tried to collect the tax, the Dreams Park sued, saying the county did not have the authority to levy a tax on bunkhouses occupied by baseball players.
No tax was ever collected, but Klafehn said two weeks ago that the issue should be tested in court.
In the meantime, Konstanty, who succeed Klafehn in January, has signed a stipulation agreeing that the county cannot tax the Dreams Park in exchange for having the lawsuit dropped.
This procedure was criticized by Rep. Marti Stayton, D-Oneonta, who said she did not recall the board authorizing Konstanty to drop the lawsuit.
Rep. Stephen Fournier, R-Milford, said state officials were divided on whether the county's law would hold up in court.
``That was the point of having a judge look at this,'' said Stayton.
Rep. Donald Lindberg, R-Worcester, voted for extending the law in 2006, but said he'd changed his mind.
``We're lucky to have these camps and I think maybe we should try to tax people less,'' he said.
Rep. Katherine Stuligross, D-Oneonta, and Keith McCarty, R-Springfield, said the county had nothing to lose by letting the lawsuit proceed.
However Konstanty said that might have been a costly proposition.
Rep. Betty Anne Schwerd, R-Burlington, said the board should defer to Konstanty and when the votes were counted, a plurality agreed with her. But with Rep. James Johnson, R-Otsego, absent, and Rep. Kathy Clark, R-Otego, abstaining, the measure fell short by a weighted vote of 2,717 to 2,501, with 3,084 needed to pass.
Voting "no" were reps. Richard Murphy, D-Oneonta; Cathy Rothenberger, D-Oneonta; Stuligross, Stayton, Fournier and McCarty. Voting "yes" were Reps. James Powers, R-Butternuts; Greg Relic, R-Unadilla; Sam Dubben, R-Middlefield; Scott Harrington, R-Oneonta; Lindberg and Schwerd.
After the meeting, Konstanty noted that the board can vote on the matter at another meeting.
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