From Staff Reports

Mayor Esther Manheimer recently presented new financial figures that, she says, substantiate allegations long-voiced by others that the city’s  flourishing hotel industry, which has resulted in growing swarms of tourists downtown, is being subsidized by local taxpayers, the Asheville Citizen Times reported Oct. 11.

The city’s latest analysis of revenue shows that hotels pay 5 percent of Asheville’s $64 million in annual property taxes, Manheimer said at Oct. 9 council meeting. She added that that reflects the reality that the vast majority of Asheville taxpayers are funding sidewalks, police and other services used by the tourism industry.

“What that means is the taxpayers are subsidizing the infrastructure improvements needed to help maintain the city that hosts that many people that come to it every day,” the mayor told council.