Mono supes disagree on ‘extraordinary’
The Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) was once again an agenda item at Tuesday’s Mono County Board of Supervisors meeting.
The issue was first raised in October when Kim and Tim Traynor, owners of Yosemite Gateway Motel in Lee Vining, asked the Board to waive the penalty for late payment of TOT taxes due to the economic loss caused by the Rim Fire. Ultimately, the Board denied the Traynor’s appeal in November.
This week, a proposed ordinance came before the Board that would clarify their authority to waive penalties during extraordinary circumstances. Extraordinary circumstance “include but are not limited to natural disasters such as fires and floods affecting an operator” as written in the ordinance. “It does not require the board to take action but gives us the opportunity,” said Supervisor Byng Hunt.
Under the current Mono County Code, operators can appeal the Board to waive the penalty, as the Traynor’s did in the fall. As with other taxes, such as property and sales tax, the Board has no discretion over the actual TOT or the interest charged on late payments. But the proposed ordinance would leave the waiving of late penalties to the sole discretion of the Board and could be used “for a single operator or class of operators and [the Board] may do so in response to a direct request by one or more operators or on its own initiative.”
Supervisor Chairman Larry Johnston urged the board to accept the ordinance as a way to help people, like the government has done during other natural disasters such as Superstorm Sandy. The proposed ordinance, “gives us, the County, a way to do that for a place and time when a disaster affects our small businesses. It sends a message that we care,” he said.
Supervisor Fesko, a motel owner himself, argued against the ordinance. “As much as we want to help people, it only helps a specific class of people—lodging. If anything it’s a bandaid and not fair to other classes of businesses like gas stations and grocery stores and restaurants. Where do we draw the line at? This does not create fairness and I can not get behind it.”
County Counsel, Marshall Rudolph, reminded the Board: “Most of the county’s collection is based on state laws with no discretion to the Board to change. There is nothing we can do above and beyond this ordinance for other businesses.” He went on to explain that although the business owner remits the TOT to the County, it is the people staying at lodging facilities in Mono County that pay the taxes, not the businesses themselves.
Supervisor Tim Alpers also argued against the ordinance. “There’s too much room for interpretation. Even though its cumbersome, we have a mechanism to deal with this and if it’s really an issue they’ll go through it,” he said, talking about the current appeal process. “There’s always room for misuse,” Supervisor Stump agreed.
Johnston and Hunt continued their arguments for the ordinance: waiving the penalty will not cost the County money because the businesses will still be responsible to pay the TOT with interest. “Penalties are excess income for the county and not planned into our budget.” Hunt argued. “We don’t really lose anything but we gain goodwill,” Johnston added.
In the end, the proposed ordinance was rejected in a board vote of 2-3.
In other County news, Supervisor Chair Johnston asked County staff to look into declaring Mono County a disaster area due to the current drought conditions. He said the situation, “is becoming critical, not only affecting snow-oriented activities but potentially summer activities as well, such as the fishing season.”
Johnston referenced the decision made by Mendocino County’s Board of Supervisors last week to declare a state of emergency due to the dry conditions. Mendocino’s Board also formed an ad-hoc committee to look at conservation efforts and emergency planning to prevent communities from drying up. This declaration could also make it easier for Mendocino County to access funds from California Office of Emergency Services and other such departments.
Jim Leddy, the County Administrative Officer for Mono County, assured the Supervisors that County staff is carefully keeping track of the drought situation. He informed the Board that California Governor Brown’s administration is considering a formal declaration of drought conditions for the entire state. This decision by Governor Brown will determine what kinds of funds Mono County could have access to, both state and federal. Leddy urged the board to wait and see what happens at a state level before making any decisions about Mono County.
