Passed over

Katie Beth Ryan
Published: April 22, 2008

Motel owners in Amherst County have been hit by a double whammy in the last several years and they say it has hurt their businesses.

The hardships, they say, came from an increase from two percent to five percent in the county’s lodging tax in July 2007 and the opening of the U.S. 29 Bypass in 2005.

T.S. Dhillon, owner of America’s Best Value Inn and Thomas Motor Inn in Madison Heights, said the latest tax increase discriminates against lodging businesses. Dhillon has joined with some of the other seven lodging operators in the county to protest the tax increase.

Those who submitted their names to the board of supervisors were Dhillon, Raj Patel of Knights Inn, Anil Patel of Madison Motel, and Donna and Terry Farmer of Wildwood Campground in Elon.

Lodging representatives from the Amherst Inn, located in the Town of Amherst, and the Florence Elston Inn & Conference Center at Sweet Briar College did not file a complaint with the board.

The tax increase was levied last summer to help fund tourism-related activities, County Administrator Rodney Taylor said. Some of the money raised from the tax will go toward the county’s visitor’s center, which will be housed in the old train depot at the intersection of U.S. 29 and U.S. 60.

“This tax is taxed only to lodging people, so this tax is unjustified,” Dhillon said.

Knights Inn owner Raj Patel sees the planned visitor’s center as unnecessary.

“Amherst County has not done anything to promote or bring business into the county,” Patel said. “They are putting the cart before the horse.”

Dhillon and Patel noted that when the Dixie Youth World Series came to Madison Heights in summer 2006 that it did not generate any business.

“Everything went to Lynchburg and nothing came to us,” Dhillon said.

Taylor said that the tax will stay in effect until the board of supervisors see its effect on tourism in the county.

“The supervisors hope to use that money to help the motel owners and other tourism-related businesses by increasing traffic,” Taylor said.

In addition, Dhillon said that his inability to advertise on the bypass has contributed to lost business.

The Virginia Department of Transportation contracts all service advertising on the bypass to Virginia Logos. To have their logos featured on the state’s highways, gas, lodging and dining facilities must be within three miles of a highway exit.

“Since Virginia Logos took over the program in 1995, there hasn’t been an exception made for any distance criteria,” said Virginia Logos General Manager Jason Newclomb.

America’s Best Value Inn and Knights Inn are just over three miles from the VA 130 exit on the U.S. 29 bypass.

Dhillon said he has seen between an eight and 10 percent drop in business since the bypass opened. Patel has lost 15 to 20 percent of his previous business and said that his current customer base is primarily local.

Taylor will attend a meeting in Richmond next month with the committee that addresses the sign issues. He plans to ask the committee to extend the logo program to businesses within four miles of an exit.

“If the commission would extend the mileage, it would be significant in bringing traffic off the bypass to the motel owners,” Taylor said.

Dhillon also wants to change the signage at both ends of the bypass to direct more traffic into Madison Heights. The current U.S. 29 business route should be labeled as U.S. 29, he said, and the bypass should read “U.S. 29 bypass.”

Headed south, the sign is currently labeled as the business route for U.S. 29, headed toward Madison Heights and Lynchburg. U.S. 29 bypasses both cities, pointing southbound drivers to Danville and those driving north to Charlottesville.

“At this time, we are totally bypassed by the bypass,” Dhillon said. “We are going to get some travelers or visitors if the sign is changed.”

Ryan writes for the Amherst New Era-Progress.