Tourism a Sullivan bright spot

Legislature gives show of support

By FRITZ MAYER

LIBERTY, NY — With county revenues dropping in most sectors, the tourism industry in Sullivan County remains a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy economic landscape.

According to figures from the Sullivan County Visitors Association (SCVA), tourism in the county provided some $40 million in state and local taxes, and employed some 4,600 people; tourists spent about $326 million in the county in 2008, which was 12 percent more than in 2007. This year’s figures won’t be ready for release until April, but Roberta Byron-Lockwood, president of the SCVA, told attendees at the group’s annual meeting and dinner at the Piccolo Paese restaurant in Liberty on December 2 that she’s hopeful that spending will be up by about one percent.

At a time when county officials are scrambling to balance a budget that features a multimillion-dollar gap, the continuing tax revenue from the tourism industry is a welcomed development. County chairman Jonathan Rouis has spoken about the SCVA at recent town meetings. At the annual meeting, he said the county is committed to helping the industry stay strong. So much so that in the proposed budget, which county lawmakers are now considering, the association is due to receive 100 percent of the bed tax generated in the county, instead of the 85 percent it received this year. This amounts to approximately $90,000. Visitors who stay in hotels, motels and bed and breakfast establishments pay the bed tax.

County manager David Fanslau initiated the move. He said that the SCVA has shown that every dollar invested returns seven or more to the county. He also said, “They presented a very sound plan for their matching funds marketing program that will assist a lot of small businesses in the county.”

In printed materials handed out at the meeting, the SVCA indicated that the county’s tourism industry was affected less by the global recession than other industries, largely because of “location and marketing.”

Casino dreams remain

There are at least two Indian tribes that are still hoping to cash in on the county’s location and proximity to the large population in the New York City metropolitan area. The Seneca Tribe and the Stockbridge Munsee tribe were both sponsors of the SCVA dinner. And while the St. Regis Mohawks are still trying to decide if they want to continue to go after a Sullivan casino, spokesmen for the other two tribes said they are unquestionably still in the game.

Jacob Billig, a local lawyer who spoke for the Stockbridge Munsees, said they had seen positive developments in Washington DC. He said that the new secretary of the interior, Ken Salazar, would soon decide about whether tribes should be able to open off-reservation casinos on land not close to the tribe’s reservation.

Bill Liblick, a local media figure, spoke for the Senecas and said much the same thing.

Gas drilling concerns

With the county counting so heavily on revenues from tourism, there is concern about the impact that gas drilling might have on it. Byron-Lockwood outlined those concerns in a letter to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) regarding the new regulations the agency plans to adopt regarding gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

She said that the economic study contained in the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement was based on a previous study done in 1988 and 1992. She said it would be “prudent to conduct a new study outlining what the current and future economic impact of gas drilling may be and how it may negatively affect the positive economic impacts of the tourism industry and others in Sullivan County and New York State.”

She concluded the letter with this paragraph: “The DEC’s mandate is to develop the State’s natural resources in an environmentally safe manner. Our industry depends on these natural resources and every effort should be made to protect them. It is critical to take further steps to examine the potentially negative cumulative effects of this activity and to make every attempt to find ways to define and objectify the impacts as they relate to the environment and to our industry.”