Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/hotel-subsidies/)
Local worker unions are clashing over a ballot initiative in Anaheim that would raise wages to $18 an hour for employees of companies that receive city subsidies, a measure aimed at three luxury hotel projects that received over $500 million in tax rebates in 2016.
In front of a packed house of both subsidy supporters and detractors, council members voted Tuesday to give Disneyland and another four-diamond hotel developer bed-tax rebates that could total more than $500 million for three hotel projects.
City Manager Paul Emery confirmed the city could award room-tax subsidies for three or four upcoming luxury hotel projects. With this news, deep divisions among council members resurfaced at Tuesday’s meeting.
A city-paid consultant says the policy to steer 70 percent of a four-diamond hotel’s room-tax subsidy back to the developer will raise surrounding hotel rates, thereby increasing tax revenue. Others say that reasoning is flawed.
Thanks to a boost in revenue, the 2015-16 budget includes increased spending on police and other services. While most council members are expressing their pleasure with the budget, Mayor Tom Tait is warning of structural weaknesses.
City Hall watchers say the move was part of a series of retaliations against Mayor Tom Tait over his position on hotel tax subsidies.