ELIZABETHTOWN — The Essex County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution at the beginning of August seeking to remove the section of state tax law that designates the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism as the mandated contractor for tourism promotion.
Supporters of the resolution say the county should not be treated differently from other counties under state law, and that current economic realities justify the county being able to allocate the tax revenue as it sees fit. Critics say ROOST has proven its efficacy and worry about potential changes to the distribution of tax revenue and how that might impact the towns that generate it.
Shaun Gillilland, Willsboro town supervisor and chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said the county’s relationship with ROOST has been “nothing but success,” and he doesn’t foresee any major changes in how the tax is allocated to towns. Rather, he said there were a number of “structural problems” that needed to be addressed, in part to avoid future legal challenges.
The resolution passed with 14 supervisors voting “yes” and four supervisors, including North Elba Town Supervisor Derek Doty, voting “no.” This discussion arises as the amount of revenue brought in from occupancy taxes has increased dramatically. According to figures from the county, occupancy tax revenue in 2018 was $2.87 million. In 2024, that amount increased to $7.1 million.
Doty said he tried to table the motion and would have preferred to allow time for ROOST representatives and the supervisors to discuss any concerns. He said the decision mostly amounts to the county wanting more control over where occupancy taxes go.
The request from the board has been passed along to the state and awaits legislators to carry the bill. Gillilland said the board hopes the state will include the bill in the next legislative session, which begins in January.
County’s current ROOST relationship
The current arrangement, in simple terms, allows the county to retain 5% of occupancy taxes while ROOST is charged with the use of the other 95%, which goes into a “special tourism development and promotion fund thereafter to be allocated for publicizing the advantages of the county of Essex,” according to the relevant section of state law 1202-S(10). Essex County is the only county required by state law to contract with a specific entity for tourism development and promotion.
However, ROOST CEO Dan Kelleher said it isn’t accurate to say 95% of the occupancy tax funds go to ROOST. The actual percentage that goes into the special tourism fund is 57%, determined by a formula laid out in a 2020 contract with the county. This formula also determines how much money goes directly to each of the towns.
This formula sets aside a baseline amount for each town to receive, based on the amount of taxes collected each year. This change was made when the Board of Supervisors approved raising the occupancy tax from 3% to 5% in the spring of 2020.
In North Elba, the direct occupancy tax allotment from the county makes up the Local Enhancement and Advancement Fund (LEAF) fund. These funds are dispersed by a committee made up of local leaders, including the town and ROOST, to local organizations that apply for grants.
These grants have gone to projects like St. Agnes School’s pilot birth-to-age-three child care program, the Lake Placid Police Department, the Lake Placid Volunteer Ambulance Service, the Shipman Youth Center and USA Luge. To read more about these grants, visit tinyurl.com/y6sprptv.
The town of Willsboro is currently using some of its occupancy tax revenue to build a park, Gillilland said, following a similar approach to projects that benefit both the community and visitors. He feels that the current distribution of funds has been fair to his town, and that the system has been working overall.
However, the Board of Supervisors is appointing a committee to work on the implementation of the amendment, if and when it passes the state legislature.
In terms of how that 57% is spent, ROOST follows the priorities laid out in the Destination Marketing Plan that is renewed every three years. The newest plan is being developed and will be released in the new year.
In state law, ROOST is designated as the contractor in charge of spending these funds. However, the law already allows the county to terminate that contract if ROOST were to ever dissolve or if the organization hasn’t adequately filled its role.
The contract between the county and ROOST runs through 2027. Kelleher said the county could cancel the contract if they are dissatisfied.
“We win current contracts and we win future contracts through our performance, service to the local communities and overall value that we’re bringing to our residents,” Kelleher said.
Kelleher said the 25 years of work between ROOST — referred to in state law as the Lake Placid-Essex County visitors bureau — and the county has paid off. He said Essex County visitor spending has increased 200% faster in Essex County than the rest of the Adirondack region since 2012.
Structural problems to address
Gillilland, who is the supervisor of the town of Willsboro, agrees that the relationship with ROOST has been beneficial for the county.
“They do a fantastic job. They are responsible for the growth and the success of the tourism industry, particularly in the High Peaks area,” he said. “The Board of Supervisors is not going to bite the hand that feeds it.”
Nevertheless, he said there are structural problems to address.
Gillilland said the current law is a violation of general municipal law because it predetermines who will receive funds without a bidding process. The county has never put out a bid for this particular function.
He said ROOST should be treated like the many other agencies the county contracts with. In addition to winning bids, those agencies also have to come to the county during the budget season to justify how they are spending the money. The board is looking for a higher level of scrutiny and transparency than what exists in the current arrangement, Gillilland said.
The law names the Lake Placid-Essex county visitors bureau as the designated contractor for the county. That organization has now been replaced by, or at least renamed as, ROOST.
In addition, the state law as written doesn’t account for the fact that there is now a 5% occupancy tax, rather than the 3% that was in place when the law was passed. He said that since tourism is the main industry in the county, they need to take extra care to make sure those funds are appropriated properly.
“Tourism is the bread and butter and the lifeblood of the economic activity of the whole county of Essex,” he said.
Addressing equity and economic strain
According to language in the resolution passed earlier this month, the board has decided that Essex County should be treated the same as other counties in the state. The board “deems it improper and illegal” that state law specifically names only one contractor that the county can use for tourism and development services.
“(The law) severely and unfairly limits Essex County’s ability to seek one or more or many contractors to promote and publicize tourism and development,” the resolution reads.
As such, the resolution calls for the removal of the entire section which specifically names ROOST as the vendor with the county. It also proposes an amendment which says all occupancy taxes will be paid to the Essex County treasury, credited to the general fund and allocated at the discretion of the county legislature “for purposes of economic development and tourism and promotion.”
The amendment authorizes the county to retain 10%, instead of 5%, of the revenue to “defer the necessary expenses with the county administering such tax.” Doty introduced a motion to amend the amendment to keep this percentage at 5%, which was voted down by the board.
The greater economic situation has also shaped this decision by the board of supervisors. The county, according to the resolution, “should not be hamstrung” by being required to pay ROOST the majority of the $7 million in revenue.
“The current economic climate at the state, federal and county levels is dire,” the resolution states.
The resolution also cites loss of industry and the internet retail marketplace as reasons why the county needs to be “in complete control of where its hotel/motel revenues are used.”
ROOST reports economic benefits
ROOST is a destination marketing organization that conducts data-driven marketing campaigns aimed at bringing new and returning visitors to the Adirondack region.
Kelleher said there is a benefit to having one, unified marketing effort across Essex County. Different regions benefit from visitors who, for example, might stay at popular hotels in the Lake Placid and High Peaks regions but still go on day trips to other areas.
“We’re stronger together when we’re all pushing in the same direction,” he said, adding that the regional approach has been key in driving growth.
A 2021 study on the economic impact of visitor spending in the state, produced by Tourism Economics, found that $131 million in local taxes were generated in the Adirondacks in 2021; $46 million in local taxes were generated in Essex County that same year.
Essex County contributes about a third of the tourism-generated taxes for the entire Adirondack region, only eclipsed by Warren County. The report calculated that without tourism-generated state and local taxes, the average household would need to pay an added $2,172 to maintain the same level of government services.
In ROOST’s most recent destination marketing plan, the organization cites a third-party study that estimated a return-on-investment for the funds spent on marketing. For every dollar spent on marketing, the report found that $75 in revenue is generated.
Bearing the burden
For Essex County, there is an economic benefit from the growing pool of occupancy tax revenue, which is supplemented by the new requirement for short-term rentals to also collect sales tax, which was signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in December 2024. However, tourism also comes at a cost.
Andrew Weibrecht, operations manager at Mirror Lake Inn, said that even as Lake Placid generates a large portion of the county’s occupancy taxes, the community also bears the burden of the many visitors passing through. Weibrecht said there is a lot of need in the village for major projects that would support visitors and residents, for example. The other part of the burden is hard to translate to material things.
“There’s a lot of strain on the local community because of tourism up here — in a good way — but I think there’s a lot of residents that get fatigued from it,” he said.
He said he understands why the county has made this decision, and respects the needs other towns have, but he is concerned that this move could cause Lake Placid to eventually receive less than their fair share of the revenue. Weibrecht has been a member of the committee that evaluates applications and distributes LEAF grants, and he said it’s important that tax revenue is reinvested in the community where the tax is collected, both for the sake of the visitors and the community.
“The stress and the strain goes on Lake Placid, so the need to reinvest those funds is greater,” he said.
Doty thinks that many hotel and STR owners only approved the occupancy tax, especially with the added 2% that was approved in 2020, because there was an assurance that the money would be returned proportionately to the towns that generate it. Doty said he is personally against occupancy taxes being disproportionately distributed, and would fight any moves to significantly change the distribution of occupancy taxes in the county.
If this amendment goes through to the state legislature, Doty said he will do what he can to protect his “turf.”
“My overall wish is that we create an environment where we all sit down at the table. That’s the bottom line of what is lacking,” Doty said. “I want North Elba to be at the table every step of the way.”
Gillilland said that he has heard some concerns from his constituents that the current arrangement mostly benefits Lake Placid. He said that the current arrangement has benefitted everyone, but that there’s room for improvement.
“We’re looking holistically at Essex County,” he said. “We want it to be that a rising tide raises all the boats.”