Inglewood to Review Bed-Tax Auditing

City officials have agreed to look into complaints by the Inglewood Hotel/Motel Assn. that innkeepers are paying too much money and are being required to turn over too many documents under the city’s program for enforcing collection of bed taxes.

After meeting with a representative of the association on Tuesday, City Manager Paul Eckles and Assistant City Manager Norm Cravens said they will examine complaints that the city’s program is unfairly requiring hotels and motels to pay more in bed taxes than they collect from guests. The city will also look into charges that auditors have been overly aggressive in inspecting hotels by, among other things, demanding to enter rooms said to be vacant.

Although they agreed to look into the complaints, city officials said they had no reason to believe their auditors were too forceful in recovering bed tax monies. Officials estimate that their enforcement program has helped the city recover more than $300,000 a year owed by hotel and motel operators.

Last week, the association threatened to sue the city over its enforcement program, unless it can reach agreement with officials on how the bed tax audits are conducted.