Hours after the Multnomah County Commission voted to approve a tax plan to help pay for a new Hyatt hotel near the Oregon Convention Center, opponents of the project challenged the board and vowed to refer the decision to the voters.
An attorney for the Coalition for Fair Budget Priorities said the group could begin gathering signatures soon to refer Thursday's county commission vote to the ballot.
The coalition, mainly consisting of downtown hoteliers opposed to subsidizing a hotel near the convention center, released a statement Thursday saying the referral would require 11,000 signatures from Multnomah County's 440,000 registered voters.
"If the hotel is such a guaranteed success, why isn't Hyatt building it on their own?" the statement said, according to a copy printed by Willamette Week. Metro News was unable to immediately obtain a copy of the statement.
Proponents of the $197.5 million, 600 room hotel, which would be built just north of the Oregon Convention Center, say subsidies pay for certain aspects of the hotel that might not otherwise be built.
In exchange for Hyatt holding 500 of the rooms open for potential large conventions, having a union workforce and other conditions, the public would pay $14 million directly toward construction. Room taxes on stays at the hotel would pay off construction bonds.
Metro Council President Tom Hughes called the decision to refer the tax agreement to the voters "short-sighted and selfish."
"The hotel owners who oppose the idea of a convention center hotel do so despite its promise to create economic prosperity for construction workers and hotel employees, members of the minority and historically underserved communities of North and Northeast Portland," Hughes said in a statement.
"With the addition of five to 10 new national conventions meeting in Portland each year, the local economy will experience an infusion of about $120 million more each year in tourist spending," Hughes said.
But project opponents argue that if the hotel struggles, room taxes on downtown hotels might end up paying for construction of a competitor. Financial analysts paid by Metro say that even in a repeat of the Great Recession, that scenario is unlikely, but that's little solace to downtown hoteliers.
Tim Ramis, an attorney for the Coalition for Fair Budget Priorities, said the coalition's members want to know more about the financials of the Hyatt project, specifically the rates Hyatt expects to charge for rooms.
"Metro's not willing to disclose that information," Ramis said. "It makes it impossible for the experts in the local industry to be able to inform the public and the elected decision makers about the viability of the project. If you hide the data, it's impossible to know whether it's a viable project."
Metro visitor venues director Teri Dresler said Hyatt's pro forma was released to the public in 2012.
"It’s been on the Metro website for over a year and we’ve discussed it publicly in meetings," Dresler said in an e-mail. "That pro forma remains the basis for negotiations today and, in addition, it has been reviewed by national industry experts who have confirmed the reasonableness of those assumptions."
The specific decision that would be referred to the voters was a change in a tax agreement between Metro, Multnomah County and Portland. The county commission voted unanimously Thursday to change the agreement, which deals with room taxes in the Portland region. Those taxes are put toward promoting tourism in the city.
Elected leaders say the Hyatt project is the perfect example of a way to spend room taxes to promote tourism.
If the coalition gathers the 11,000 signatures it needs to challenge the county commission's decision, the question would be on the ballot no earlier than 90 days after the verification of signatures. If the signatures were gathered by February, that would put the question on the May primary ballot; otherwise, voters would be asked to re-consider the commission's decision in a special September election.
Hughes said delays could mean higher interest rates on the bonds needed to pay for the project, making the project more expensive in the long run and jeopardizing its planned 2016 opening.
"We really hope to be welcoming visitors to this in 2016," he said.