State Senator Colton Moore has held up local legislation in the Georgia Senate that would establish a hotel/motel tax in Chattooga County.  The idea behind the bill is to collect the tax to promote tourism in the county, but Senator Moore says that he is not in favor of several portions of the bill.

The City of Summerville and the Town of Trion, along with Chattooga County Commissioner Blake Elsberry all passed legislation to establish that tax once it was approved by the state legislature.  Typically, these types of bills sail through the General Assembly without opposition.  That was the case in the Georgia House when State Rep. Eddie Lumsden introduced the bill.  All Republican and Democratic members of the House voted in favor.

Senator Moore won’t even introduce the legislation because he says the new tax should be tied to a property tax decrease by the county and two municipalities and he doesn’t like the fact that the tax money would be funneled through the local chamber of commerce to promote tourism.

Trion Mayor Lanny Thomas told WZQZ News over the weekend, “The City of Summerville, Chattooga County Commissioner Elsberry, the leaders of The Town of Trion, and the Chattooga County Chamber has been working on this for over a year. Much time and thought was put into strategic planning on how to utilize the funding that would have come from the hotel/motel tax.  It was going to benefit Chattooga County and the municipalities without placing a financial burden on the citizens”.

Senator Moore didn’t even bother to talk with the local chamber of commerce about his concerns before blocking the bill.

Mayor Thomas added, “What is amazing to me that when Representative Lumsden introduced the bill to the House, it was approved with 164 yeas and zero nays. And now Mr. Moore will not even send it to the Senate? I guess he thinks he knows what is best for the citizens of Summerville, Trion, and Chattooga County than the leaders that were elected to represent them”.