Amery motel owners had asked for elimination of the city's motel tax. Mayor Harvey Stower says the city council settled on a reduction instead.
The money the tax raises goes towards tourism in the Amery area. Stower says the reduction is in line with other communities in the area, and four is still low for motel taxes in the Badger state. "For example, if you stay in Madison, by the time they add the local tax and the state tax and everything else that they tack onto the cost of hotel rooms, you're paying fifteen percent more," says the mayor.
Motel owners cited the economic downturn in calling for elimination of the tax. The decrease will take effect in April.