The following is excerpted from a communication from Patrick Hopkins, City Administrator, to NewsLanc on June 23 and deals with the Marriott Hotel being deemed exempt from County, City and School District Real Estate Taxes. If subject to real estate taxes, NewsLanc estimates that the taxes would amount to at least $750,000 per year.

“As for the tax-exempt status of the hotel property, I have received a number of inquiries about the Intelligencer Journal article that noted the hotel property is tax-exempt.

“In the context of the article, this sounded as though it was a new announcement. However, the tax-exempt status of the property had been established in early 2006 following the transfer of the properties from Penn Square Partners to RACL in late 2005.

“The parcel(s) devoted to the hotel were deemed tax-exempt by the County in March of 2006 for the City’s 2007 tax year and presumably for the School District’s 2006-07 tax year. In mid-2007, the old Watt and Shand tax parcels and other parcels on that block were eliminated and the new parcels on which the hotel and convention center are built were established. Our system reflects that we received the notice from the County Assessment office that these new parcels were also tax-exempt in June of 2007.

“The exemption was effective for the City’s 2008 tax year and beyond for as long as the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Lancaster was the owner of the hotel property. Prior to the properties being transferred to RACL from PSP, they produced approximately $12,000 in real estate tax revenues to the City of Lancaster. At today’s City millage rate, and the then current property assessments, the properties would produce about $14,500 in City real estate tax revenues.”

Hopkins estimation of $14,500 in exempted City real estate tax revenues assumes tax revenue to the City had the Marriott Hotel not been built.