May 10--BLUFF CITY, Tenn. -- After clearing the state legislature last month, Bluff City's proposed hotel tax is now dead in the water after the plan failed to get enough support.

The proposed tax -- which would have applied to a bed and breakfast and RV park currently operating within the city limits -- needed to get four votes at Thursday's Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting to ratify it.

It only garnered three.

"This took a lot of effort and time," Mayor Tom Anderson said Thursday.

The hotel tax was to be a way to increase revenue, and it was first discussed by board members in February, about six weeks after the city annexed the Lakeview RV Park on Dec. 20.

Forty-five Tennessee municipalities -- including Bristol, Kingsport, and Johnson City -- charge a hotel tax. The average hotel tax rate is 5 percent, though some cities charge as much as 7 percent.

On Feb. 7, board members narrowly approved a resolution asking the Tennessee General Assembly to give the city permission to impose a hotel tax. The vote received a good amount of public opposition including from Lakeview owner Worley Fain, who thought the proposal unfairly targeted his business.

Anderson said in February the board would probably wait a while after it received permission from the legislature before setting up the hotel tax.

Sponsored by Rep. Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol, the legislation passed in the state House of Representatives on March 6 and in the state Senate on March 20. Gov. Phil Bredsen signed the legislation on April 7.

City Attorney Paul Frye said the board still needed to ratify the tax before city officials could begin discussing what rate to charge.

"It's better to have the tax on the books whether we enact it or not," Anderson said Thursday, adding that ratifying the tax would simply let the board bring it up in the future without seeking permission from the legislature.

Two board members, however, disagreed with Anderson and voted against the plan. Alderman Melvin Carrier voted against the tax while Alderwoman Irene Wells abstained. Wells -- who joined the board after the tax was first voted upon -- said she had been against the tax when it was being debated.

gmclean@bristolnews.com -- (276) 645-2518

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