AGOURA HILLS : Council Postpones Vote on Hotel Tax

The Agoura Hills City Council has decided to postpone until next May a decision on whether to increase bed taxes from 8% to 10% for the city’s only hotel to make up for an anticipated $700,000 budget shortfall.

Council members were following a suggestion by Councilwoman Fran Pavley to wait until the May budget session to see if the city still needs the money that would be generated by the increased tax.

Board members said last week that raising taxes now for the Radisson Hotel in Agoura Hills could hurt business at the establishment and spoil the city’s efforts to lure other hotels.

“This hotel is a focal point of future business activity in the city,” said Councilman Ed Corridori.

“We should work with (hotel management) in making this hotel an economic resource.”

Also last Wednesday, Pavley said that she would be willing in the future to reduce a recently adopted 4% utility tax if the board determines that the city does not need all the revenue the tax generates.

Corridori said after the meeting that she believes all council members support that idea.

But Pavley’s announcement was greeted with skepticism by Barbara Murphy, who is leading a movement to recall the entire City Council over the utility tax.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Murphy said. “They are under a lot of pressure right now over the recall, and they are going to do everything they can to avert it.”

The proposed bed tax increase--which would raise an additional $50,000 per year--was one of several deficit-cutting measures outlined in the city’s $5.6-million 1994-95 budget. The utility tax is another part of a deficit-reduction plan.

The proposed bed tax increase, according to City Manager Terry Matz, would put the city on a par with Ventura, Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village, which all charge 10%.

And it would be less, he said, than the 12% levied by Calabasas, Malibu, Santa Monica and Los Angeles County, or the 14% levied by the city of Los Angeles.

Anthony David, the hotel’s general manager, has argued that increasing bed taxes would hurt business at the hotel, which gets many corporate clients. That means the city would ultimately get less revenue, he said.

If the city has no alternative other than to raise taxes, David said, it should at least be willing to allow him to put logo signs on the building to attract customers.

“There is a possibility that some additional signage is going to be worked out,” Matz said.