EASTON, Pa. — The Hotel Bethlehem underreported revenues and underpaid hotel room taxes owed to the county over the past two years, the county controller told a Northampton County Council committee Wednesday.
- Northampton County Controller Richard Szulborski told a County Council committee Wednesday that Hotel Bethlehem failed to pay $673 in taxes owed to the county
- Szulborski said such errors are common, and Hotel Bethlehem's underpayment amounts to a small portion of its tax bill
- Northampton County charges a 4% tax on hotel stays, and uses the funds for tourism-related grants
A review by Controller Richard Szulborski ’s office found that in 2021 and 2022, the hotel underreported revenue from fees charged for not showing up or smoking in a room, for example.
Szulborski’s office also found that of 23 tax exemptions the Hotel Bethlehem filed over that two-year period, only one should have been granted.
The 22 rejected claims involved a soccer team from West Point who stayed on the property. The hotel tried to use a tax exemption for U.S. government business; soccer does not qualify as government business, the controller's office found.
The total unpaid taxes add up to $673, a tiny fraction of Hotel Bethlehem’s nearly $500,000 tax bill.
Such errors are common, according to Szulborski, and the controller’s office has found much larger disparities at other hotels in other reviews conducted this year.
"It isn’t like we collected the tax from the customer & pocketed the money. We simply read the rules as not requiring us to charge the customer for smoking fines."Hotel Bethlehem Managing Partner Bruce Haines
Bruce Haines, who manages the hotel, said in an email late Wednesday he was "unaware" of the controller's findings.
"[I] am quite surprised that the controller gave such a report when we have not yet been notified of a deficiency nor given a chance to review their audit to understand why we have a discrepancy," he wrote.
"It isn’t like we collected the tax from the customer & pocketed the money. We simply read the rules as not requiring us to charge the customer for smoking fines."
Northampton County charges a 4% tax on hotel stays. Any money collected funds grants aimed at encouraging tourism.
The county controller’s office regularly reviews finances of hotels in the county, looking for discrepancies.
