La. Supreme Court ruling may block use of hotel taxes for WTC

New Orleans CityBusiness, Feb 14, 2005 by CityBusiness Staff

A Louisiana Supreme Court ruling Feb. 4 could block plans to use hotel occupancy taxes to redevelop the World Trade Center into a New Orleans hotel.

The court ruled developers could not use designated sales tax proceeds to build a Bass Pro Shop in Denham Springs without voter approval.

Developers had hoped to use tax increment financing, a funding method that would have allowed them to use sales tax revenues to pay about $50 million in bonds issued to build the 27-acre retail outlet.

The precedent set in the Bass Pro Shop case could chill developer plans to use a TIF based on a 13 percent hotel occupancy tax to build a Westin hotel in the city-owned World Trade Center building.

WTC project advocates say the Bass Pro Case differs from their case because the World Trade Center TIF involves a new tax. The World Trade Center case is being appealed to the state Supreme Court, with a possible March hearing date.

Copyright 2005 Dolan Media Newswires
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

 

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