With the proposal for yet another hotel coming before the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, Secaucus is posed to benefit greatly if one of two hotel tax bills is passed by the state legislature.
Secaucus has been frustrated by current state law that allows only larger cities in the state to impose a 6 percent tax on hotel rooms, but restricts smaller towns from imposing such taxes, except when the small town is host to an international airport. Over the years, Secaucus has seen a rise in hotel construction so that it rivals many of the larger cities in the state for total hotel rooms.
Currently, Atlantic City, Newark and Wildwood have hotel taxes. Under legislation authored by local Assemblyman Anthony Impreveduto (D-32nd Dist.) in the early 1990s, smaller towns would be able to impose a 2 percent tax. This legislation, however, ran into opposition from a Republican-dominated state legislature that is philosophically opposed to initiating a tax.
Mayor Dennis Elwell said Secaucus is unlike other small towns with similar residential populations. While the latest census shows Secaucus has just under 16,000 people, during the day the population of Secaucus swells to 60,000 as people come into town to jobs and to shop, and this requires additional services.
Hotels and other businesses in Secaucus use those services, the mayor said. Hotels may need police to handle unruly guests, or ambulance services for those who may get ill while staying at the hotel. People also need police to protect them while they stay in or shop in Secaucus.
Elwell also noted that unlike other small towns, Secaucus provides a professional ambulance service, not a volunteer squad. This means response time to an emergency might be one to two minutes as opposed to 20 minutes in towns nearby. This service also provides a backup unit if the first ambulance is occupied at the time of the call.
While the town’s fire department is volunteer and may cost less than professional fire departments, the town has to provide the firefighters with additional equipment and training to handle the kinds of calls big cities face, such as high rise fires and other emergencies not typically faced by towns with Secaucus’ low residential population.
The mall and hotel areas in Secaucus have been a public safety problem. Car thefts are very high in the large number of parking lots, with local police forced to respond to each complaint.
Elwell said the town isn’t seeking to give residents a tax break, but to continue stabilization of taxes that would help benefit everyone, including the hotels, and help make Secaucus that much more attractive to other businesses to set up shop here.
Elwell said municipal taxes have stayed the same fours years in row and it is possible the 2003 budget will not show an increase. Elwell said in order to keep taxes down, he and other town officials had to be proactive, to do things before there is a problem.
Fortunately for Secaucus, other towns faced with a declining economy are also pushing for the power to tax hotels, motels, restaurants and other entertainment venues. Last week the state Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee agreed not only to look over Impreveduto’s bill – which he has resubmitted consistently for years — but another bill that would grant towns like Secaucus the full 6 percent.
Although Impreveduto believes the 6 percent bill will not likely be passed, he sees the 2 percent option as still viable.
“I don’t think the legislature is going to allow a six percent tax on hotel rooms,” Impreveduto said. “But I think we can see a 2 percent tax.”
Elwell, however, said it is likely the bills will be combined and that the state will take some of tax in order to meet gaps in the state budget.
“Either way, we win,” Elwell said.