By CHARLES RICHARDS
The City of Paris has collected more hotel and motel occupancy taxes this fiscal year than at the same time a year ago despite the failure of La Quinta Inn to pay the city for the July-through-September and the October-through-December quarters.
City finance director Gene Anderson, responding to an inquiry from District 5 councilman Matt Frierson at Thursday night’s city council meeting, said all Paris hotels are current on their occupancy taxes except La Quinta.
“La Quinta is delinquent for the first quarter of 2011, but paid the bulk of its obligation for the second quarter of 2011,” Anderson said. “They are also delinquent for the third and fourth quarters of 2011.”
On Feb. 7, Anderson and city attorney Kent McIlyar met with the owner and hotel manager, who promised to stay current on occupancy taxes from now on, plus pay $3,000 per month on the back taxes owed until the indebtedness is erased.
Gene Anderson
“At that rate it will take approximately 15 months for them to pay the back tax due,” the finance director said.
Frierson asked, “Based on past issues, do you think they will live up to the agreement?”
“Well, they made the first three payments,” Anderson replied. “I’m not going to predict from there. But I think they want to do that. They realize if they fail to do that, they’ll end up in court and more than likely would have to shut down, and they don’t want that to happen.”
According to Anderson’s monthly financial report, the city has collected $328,344 in hotel occupancy taxes through the first seven months of the 2011-2012 fiscal year, covering from Oct. 1, 2011, through April 30, 2012.
That’s $21,419, or 7 percent, more than the $306,925 the city had collected for the first seven months of the 2010-2011 fiscal year.
Anderson also reported:
The city is seven-twelfths of the way through the fiscal year, and three city departments have spent more than seven-twelfths of their annual budget, Anderson.
He identified the three departments as the police, the city airport, and the wastewater treatment plant.
He attributed the police department overage of $58,619 to supplies for the animal pound, and higher than anticipated expense for the emergency notification system, funds for confidential informants, information technology expenses, and maintenance of buildings and equipment.
The overage at Cox Field amounts to $25,959 and is due to the grant match payments to TxDOT for paving runways at the airport, he said.
The overage at the wastewater treatment plant is $40,354 and is due to chemical costs, TCEQ license fees, and maintenance of pumps and motor maintenance.
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Charles Richards Charles Richards moved to Paris in 2004 after retiring from a 40-year career in journalism – the last 26 years as a news writer and sports writer with The Associated Press in Dallas and Washington, D.C. In mid-2004, The Paris News coaxed him out of retirement, and he began covering the police, court and regional beat for The Paris News. Then in early 2005, he was switched to coverage of a sharply divided Paris City Council. He was appointed by the City Council in 2006 to the 12-member City Charter Review Commission, which extensively rewrote the outmoded document. His writing awards include two first-place awards in statewide competition for feature writing. The most recent was his 2005 story on a Paris doctor’s startling use of leeches in a successful attempt to re-attach a man’s severed ear. Over his career, Richards’ interview subjects include Alabama Gov. George Wallace, President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush, David Koresh, Arnold Palmer, Muhammad Ali and numerous other political and sports figures. He is an alumnus of Texas Tech, where he was editor of the school newspaper. He lives in Paris with his wife, Barbara, who is retired after 30 years as a teacher and high school counselor.
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