Hotel-less Harlem passes hotel tax

Harlem doesn't have a hotel, but it does have a hotel-motel tax.

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At its Dec. 17 meeting, Harlem City Council approved a resolution to create a 6 percent hotel/motel tax, even though the city has no lodging facilities.

"This would be to put it in place for the city to get those funds instead of the county should a hotel, motel or bed-and-breakfast get up and operating," Mayor Scott Dean said.

Dean and his wife, Renee, have been renovating Red Oak Manor, a house in downtown Harlem in which they plan to open a bed-and-breakfast.

When it opens, the Deans' facility would be the sole source of hotel-motel tax funds for the city.

The last motel to operate in the city closed more than two decades ago, and the building -- across the street from City Hall -- is now used for the city's Head Start program.