95-room hotel in Village Center – a desperate PR campaign

To the Editor:

In an effort to skirt the town bylaws, the Mahida team continues to divert attention from the facts and real issues. We are now seeing a public relations campaign, exaggerating their proposal’s benefits and attempting to intimidate people who oppose it. Last week, David Carpenter (a spokesman for the Mahida interests) made attacks on me and others that were personal, questioning the source of our information on the actual amount of real estate taxes paid by the Mahida-controlled hotels.

Take the issue of tax revenues. Why not use the Town Assessor’s tax records? The table below shows the actual numbers, including four motels already owned by the Mahida family under “Group M” at the top. Their real estate tax projections for the new hotel ALONE exceeds the taxes of all their other holdings put together.

Lodging taxes are also collected, but are based on business generated, and similarly “aggressive.” Marc Fasteau pointed this out last week in his open letter to the Select Board. His estimates were backed by independent market research. I am in agreement with his figures.

Three points to keep in mind:

1. Any form of commercial redevelopment at Searles School will generate a strong form of tax income — not just a hotel.
2. Hotel real estate and lodging taxes are paid upon the income produced, not on the investment made. Actually, lodging taxes declined significantly during recessions only to be “made up” by other taxpayers, primarily residences that generate 80 percent of real estate taxes.
3. A new hotel will cause a certain loss of tax revenues and price declines from existing hotels/motels — including Mahida’s own because of over-capacity. Bear in mind, three of the town’s twelve hotels are already up for sale. Their projected tax revenues don’t take into account the town’s loss of other real estate or lodging tax revenues, like “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

If the Mahida team truly wishes to do something for the Town’s benefit, convert the Days Inn to a luxury hotel and stay within the boundaries and intentions of our bylaws. That would be a better effort.

Sharon Gregory

Great Barrington