Audit: Allegria Hotel Owes $132K in Back Taxes

The Allegria Hotel in Long Beach is one of just two hotels in Nassau County that has failed to pay the county’s Hotel and Motel Tax, according to an audit report released Tuesday.

County Comptroller George Maragos indicated in his report that the Allegria, at 80 W. Broadway, owes the county $132,000 in uncollected taxes since first opening in 2010.

The other hotel cited in the county comptroller’s report was the Jones Beach Hotel in Wantagh, which did not register and file hotel and motel occupancy from November 1994 to July 9, 2011, and in that nearly 17-year period owed $610,400 in fines, Maragos said.

Maragos said all of the other county hotels in the county, more than 50, have complied with the tax, which is allocated to promote tourism and conventions as well as to assist in the operation of non-profit museums and cultural organizations.

Following the audit, the Nassau County's treasurer office referred the unpaid hotel and motel occupancy taxes by the Allegria and Jones Beach Hotel to the county’s collection agency, Maragos said.

“We are pleased that the treasurer has acted promptly to collect unpaid hotel and motel taxes and to put procedures in place for better oversight of delinquent taxpayers,” said Maragos, who was elected Nassau County comptroller in 2009 and is currently running in a senate race to be the Republican challenger to U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY.  

According to the audit, the Allegria failed to pay any hotel and motel occupancy tax, totaling $112,019 for the four quarters of 2010. In addition, the hotel did not pay occupancy taxes of $743.31 in 2009 and $173.89 in 2010, and $947 and $18,629 in penalties and interest for 2009 and 2010, respectively, are still outstanding.

The report reads: “According to their external accountant, management was experiencing cash flow problems, and asked if this outstanding amount could be paid in installments. A recent follow-up of the hotel’s payment status with the County Treasurer’s Office indicated that in 2011, the hotel is submitting quarterly Hotel and Motel Tax Remittance Forms, but continuing to fail to pay the taxes.”

Allegria general manage Mike Witte told Patch: “We are working to fulfill all of our commitments to the city, past and present. We are open for business and now we are looking forward to the most successful summer that the Allegria has had."

The Allegria reportedly, and, as Patch reported in January, the Brooklyn Federal Savings Bank fielded at least two offers of about $20 million each for the $36 million note it holds on the hotel.

* Andrew Coen contributed to this story. This story was updated at 11:32 p.m. on 5/9/12.