Bryan County motel owners fight tax proposal

DURANT, Okla. (AP) -- A group of Bryan County motel owners are trying to get a tax proposal removed from the November ballot.<br/><br/>The proposed 5% tax would be charged on the rental of hotel and motel

Wednesday, September 22nd 2004, 9:13 am

By: News On 6

DURANT, Okla. (AP) -- A group of Bryan County motel owners are trying to get a tax proposal removed from the November ballot.

The proposed 5% tax would be charged on the rental of hotel and motel rooms and lodges.

County commissioners voted in August to put the proposal on the ballot.

An attorney for the motel owners says commissioners violated the state's Open Meeting Act by posting an incomplete agenda for the meeting.

Attorney Dustin Rowe says the agenda doesn't properly describe the tax proposal. Rowe says the motel owners likely would have attended the meeting to comment on the proposal had they known it would be discussed.

Officials say the tax will raise about 265-thousand dollars a year to be divided among the sheriff's department, the jail, 911 communications and tourism development.