Hotelier wants Niagara Falls to refund bed taxes

From the Niagara Gazette: The owner of a pair of hotels in Niagara Falls has filed a legal claim seeking the return of nearly $300,000 in hotel room occupancy taxes collected from patrons who sought lodging at its properties last year. The notice of petition, filed by Falls attorney John Bartolomei on behalf of the…

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Bashing tourism – a Niagara Falls tradition

From the Niagara Falls Review: Look, when you’ve lived here long enough, we all do it. Complain about tourism. We gripe when we’re in a hurry and there’s a car with a Pennsylvania plate ahead of us. We gripe when we hit a pothole on Drummond Rd. but see a War of 1812 archway over…

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OLG funds used to cover Falls budget shortfall

From Niagara This Week: Not wanting to stick ratepayers with a potential $62 increase on their tax bills, councillors decided Tuesday to take a $2.9-million shortfall in revenues by taking the money from the City’s OLG reserve fund. The shortfall came about after the Region reversed its tax policy to create a separate primarily for…

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Fog hangs over tourism spending

From the Buffalo News: The control of millions of dollars of public money used to market and promote Niagara Falls and Niagara County is in the hands of 17 people. They choose how casino revenue and hotel taxes should be used to promote tourism in the county. They determine the salaries of staff hired with…

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