PORTSMOUTH – Former Mayor Robert Lister is pushing the city to continue its efforts to help pass legislation that would allow municipalities to impose a local option tax that could charge people who rent hotel rooms up to $5 a night that would go directly to the city.
“When I was campaigning for City Council and as mayor, I was repeatedly asked by residents, ‘when do we see some relief on our taxes so we can remain living in the city?,’” Lister wrote in a letter to Mayor Jack Blalock and the City Council.
In response to a request from City Councilor Doug Roberts, City Finance Director Judie Belanger estimated that a $2 local option tax on hotel rooms would generate $1.4 million a year.
Lister believes passage of such a local option tax would give Portsmouth the ability to generate much-needed revenue from all of the hotels throughout the city.
“We are not going to see a decrease in the number of visitors to the city anytime in the future and the residents need to see some relief,” Lister said in the letter.
During an interview Wednesday, Lister, who also served as superintendent of schools, said he often heard while out campaigning from residents who asked “what am I getting out of all this new development.”
He doesn’t believe that such a fee would have any impact on the already high number of people who stay in Portsmouth hotels.
“Nobody is going to pass up staying in Portsmouth for a buck or two,” Lister said.
Lister told the council he’s traveled all over the country with his wife and stayed in hotels where they’ve “paid a dollar, two dollars or three dollars” for a local option tax.
“I paid that all across the country and I never mind paying for it,” Lister said. “I think it’s a good idea.”
Lister is pushing for the passage of HB 1609, which would allow towns and cities to charge up to $5 a night for people who rent hotel rooms.
“I’m going to keep at this like a dog with a bone,” Lister said.
The bill is sponsored by several Portsmouth and area lawmakers, including state Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth.
The longtime state lawmaker said she thinks “it’s possible” the legislation will pass.
She pointed out it was recently amended so the municipalities that implement such a tax would be responsible for collecting it, not the state Department of Revenue Administration.
The bill is currently being considered by the House Ways and Means Committee.
“I would think that if it gets out of the Ways and Means Committee, it has a very good chance of passing on the floor of the House,” she said Wednesday.
Such taxes are used by “municipalities across the country,” she said.
“It’s a very reasonable thing to request. We’ve heard from other communities, not just Hampton and Lebanon, but also Manchester,” Fuller Clark said. “They also think it’s something they would like.”
She feels it’s an important option “particularly when there’s so many municipalities in New Hampshire who have seen downshifting from state government,” she said.
Both Lister and Fuller Clark stressed the local option tax for hotels has nothing to do with the rooms and meals tax.
“This is just creating a local option to allow communities who are experiencing the stress of having to accommodate so many new hotels a way to raise more revenues,” she said.
If the legislation doesn’t pass, Fuller Clark said, “there’s just going to continue to be a detrimental impact on local property taxes.”