Hoteliers are grumbling about the Niagara Tourism & Convention Corp.'s decision to collect a 10 percent surcharge on rooms booked through the agency.
That's on top of the approximately $1.2 million the NTCC gets in bed tax money, and another $1 million out of the city's share of money generated at the Seneca Niagara Casino.
Like the Bridge Commission and the Parks Commission's deal with the Maid of the Mist, NTCC officials insist that they are not a state agency, and therefore are not bound by law to account for revenues and expenditures, even though the organization was founded with an edict from former Gov. George Pataki.
The dodge used by NTCC officials is that they are a "private not-for-profit" and, as such, don't have to pay any taxes, either.
In 2007 -- the most recent year for which figures are available -- the NTCC booked 8,847 room nights in local hotels. Figuring a low average of $100 per night, similar sales this year would net the agency $884,100, bringing its total take to something in excess of $3 million per year.
Councilman Sam Fruscione, who also serves on the city's tourism advisory board, has long advocated that the city take back control of its own tourism industry. He believes the $3 million-plus now going to the NTCC could be used far more effectively.
"I think there are a lot of areas in which this money could be better spent," he said. "Most of the people who come here arrive by car or bus, a lot of them driving in on roads like Buffalo Avenue, which is a disgrace."
Fruscione said the city's own efforts to promote tourism are severely hamstrung by a near total lack of funding.
"Last year, we had to fight to get less than $10,000 for a little bit of signage at Main Street and Pine to help keep visitors from getting lost once they get here," he said. "Meanwhile, (NTCC Chairman) John Percy is jet-setting around the world on our dime."
In 2008, Percy and a large entourage traveled to India to drum up tourism business there. Staying in $500-a-night hotels and spending lavishly on meals and entertainment, he said he and his associates had a fine time. While he has steadfastly refused to release the cost of the trip publicly, sources say the extended stay would have cost in the upper five figures at least.
"We were treated like royalty," Percy told a presumably stunned reporter from the Buffalo News on his return.
And a look at the points of origin for tourists who ultimately come to Niagara Falls shows that India is not even in the Top 10.
The NTCC's efforts are also hurting local businesses that depend on booking tours, hotel rooms and other travel arrangements by providing the same services with the benefit of a $3 million cash infusion annually, sources said.
"I don't get $3 million a year, and I have to pay taxes on what I do get," said the owner of one local tour business. "How can I compete against that?"
On a more level playing field last year, the NTCC lost out in a fair bidding process for the operation of tourism centers at the Clarence and Angola New York State Thruway stops. The state awarded the contract to Majestic Tours, a private non-subsidized company owned by Doreen O'Connor here.
State Sen. George Maziarz, a frequent critic of the NTCC, was outraged by Percy's failure.
"This is absolutely unbelievable," Maziarz told the Reporter. "You've got a state agency, one that is subsidized by the taxpayers to the tune of $3 million a year, and they can't even manage to outbid a private company on a contract awarded by another state agency? I don't know what they're doing over there."
Pointing out that the agency spends more on salaries and travel than it does on advertising Niagara Falls as a world-class tourist attraction, and that Percy's $121,600 annual salary is way out of line for public officials in Western New York, Maziarz said it's become clear to him that the money being paid by the people of Niagara Falls to support the agency is being wasted.
"The NTCC gets as much of the casino money as the Niagara Falls International Airport," he said. "You can look at the new terminal under construction at the airport today and you'll see where that money went. I can't say the same for the money that went to the NTCC."
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | February 24 2009 |