The Binghamton City Council recently took the first step in a process that would tax local hotels to bring in more revenue for the city.
The occupancy tax would charge hotels and motels a certain percentage for each room they rent. Occupancy taxes are fairly common; Broome County has charged a 5% occupancy tax since 1977. The cities of Cortland and Ithaca both charge local hotels an occupancy tax.
Binghamton Mayor Jared Kraham brought the idea to the council. He said the hotel occupancy tax could bring in around $600,000 annually, and the city could use that extra money to pay for maintenance and debt payments on the city-owned Mirabito baseball stadium.
Kraham said as it is, the stadium costs the city as much as $735,000 each year.
“City homeowners and small businesses are shouldering the cost for that stadium,” Kraham said. “And it's just a fairness issue as well, that we should try to limit the amount that city taxpayers are paying for a regional entertainment and sports facility.”
Last year, the previous city council voted to borrow more funds for repairs to the flooding and drainage system of the stadium, bringing the city’s bond ordinance up to $7.25 million. In the past decade, the city has invested over $10 million in the stadium, which is home to the minor league Binghamton Rumble Ponies.
In late April, Diamond Baseball Holdings announced it would purchase the Rumble Ponies from David Sobotka, who has owned the team since 2021. The company now owns around a quarter of all minor league teams in the country.
“Mirabito Stadium is fully PDL [Professional Development League] compliant and there have been a number of improvements made recently, including the new scoreboard, field drainage improvements, new netting, so we don’t anticipate making any additional major changes,” Diamond Baseball Holdings CEO Peter Fruend said. He added that the company would consider future repairs or renovations as needed.
The Binghamton Urban Renewal Agency, which is responsible for managing the lease between the city and the Rumble Ponies, voted in a special meeting to renew the lease with Diamond Baseball Holdings. That means the city’s legal responsibility for maintenance and debt payments will likely remain the same.
‘I do wish the stadium could be self-sustaining’
On Wednesday, the Binghamton City Council voted to request authorization from New York state to move the occupancy tax legislation forward. But several city council members expressed concerns over using that tax revenue to pay for the stadium.
“I don't think I'm necessarily opposed to an occupancy tax. I do wish the stadium could be self-sustaining in some manner,” Council Member Nate Hotchkiss said. “I think that probably everybody would prefer that it pays for itself through ticket sales.”
To authorize the tax legislation, the state needs to receive both a letter from Mayor Kraham and the resolution from the city council. Therefore, the city council and the mayor need to agree on what the tax revenue would pay for, as well as how long the tax legislation will be set to last.
Once the state approves the city’s request, the city council would need to pass another resolution before the occupancy tax becomes law.