Jan. 16--Greenbrier County received $1.43 million last year from a 3 percent room occupancy tax that was imposed for the first time on The Greenbrier. 

But an increase in the hotel tax that Charleston Mayor Jay Goldman has proposed isn't getting any backing either from resort President Ted Kleisner or from Greenbrier County Commissioner Steve Malcomb, who insisted on The Greenbrier paying the tax. 

"Three percent is plenty. I don't want that raised," Malcomb said. 

Malcomb is so pleased with the revenue from the occupancy tax that he said Tuesday he will now support a casino at The Greenbrier. "I'm going to use this figure to promote gambling," Malcomb said. 

December's county collections totaled $89,630 from The Greenbrier. 

Malcomb didn't support a casino when county voters said "no" in a local election in November 2000, but he didn't oppose the commission putting the issue on the ballot after The Greenbrier didn't fight him on the 3 percent occupancy tax. 

Kleisner said the resort can ask for another referendum in the general election next November. "We, frankly, have made no decision," he said. 

Kleisner doesn't see the rationale for raising the hotel tax on tourism, an industry that he said has become a shining star in West Virginia. 

Goldman has proposed raising the 3 percent tax to 7 percent, which Kleisner said is a 133 percent increase on an industry that has been adversely affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Greenbrier's occupancy tax would increase from about $1.5 million to $3.4 million, he said. 

The resort had estimated that the 3 percent tax it began paying Jan. 1, 2001, would total $1.5 million last year, but actual collections were slightly less because of the recession and the Sept. 11 attacks. 

As you go up 10 percent on the hotel tax, Kleisner said occupancy rates drop 4.4 percent. 

Statewide, Kleisner said, $8.4 million is paid in hotel taxes by all establishments, and The Greenbrier paid 17 percent of the total. "It's really a tax on The Greenbrier," he said. 

Kleisner said he's waiting for The Greenbrier's employees to say whether they will support another casino referendum. The next time the issue is placed on the ballot will be the last time, he said. "I'm not going to make a quick decision." 

Kleisner said the recession has the resort more concerned with business than two years ago. Even before Sept. 11, The Greenbrier was feeling the strain on the economy from the recession. In the three weeks after Sept. 11, Kleisner said the resort lost $8 million. 

The resort's group clientele -- 60 percent of its business -- was deeply affected, he said, with people unwilling to make decisions about meetings. 

The occupancy rate picked up in November and December, and he said both months set records. "We broke all records over Thanksgiving weekend." He said the resort had 1,701 rooms occupied. 

Rather than fly, a lot of the guests drove eight hours to the resort during the last two months. Kleisner said he had always thought four hours was the most time people would drive. 

The Greenbrier had opened 100 new guest rooms in October, which turned out to be bad timing because of the attacks, he said. 

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(c) 2002, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.