County and West Chester sue Comfort Inn hotel over back taxes
Jul. 20—Butler County and West Chester Twp. officials have sued the owner of the Comfort Inn and Suites for nearly $200,000 in back "head taxes" but he says he is still suffering the economic ravages of the pandemic.
When the COVID-19 pandemic descended three years ago, travel came screeching to a halt, and most hotels emptied. Despite the economic hardship other hotel owners countywide for the most part have dutifully remitted "bed taxes" to the various taxing bodies in the county.
The county and West Chester have been forced to sue Marvel Management and Ali Khokhar, franchisee and owner of the Comfort Inn and Suites at 5944 West Chester Road, to recoup almost $200,000 combined in back taxes and penalties. He has never responded to the lawsuits according to court dockets.
Township Administrator Larry Burks told the Journal-News there have been a few other delinquent hotels but they have been making payments, not Khokhar.
"When they are charging the bed tax, the lodging tax, and not paying it that's not fair to the consumer," Burks said. "When we see 40, 50 cars in the parking lot in the morning and then we see them resurfacing their parking lot, they're using our money to do that."
According to the Butler County Auditor's Office Marvel Management bought the property in July 2018 for $5.2 million.
The Butler County lodgings tax is a total of 6%, with the county and local jurisdictions where hotels reside splitting it 50/50. The tax is paid by hotel users. The hotels are required to self report their occupancy rates and pay the taxes monthly.
The year before the pandemic exploded, West Chester collected $1.28 million in lodgings taxes, revenues dropped to $627,866 in 2020. The next year collections increased to $917,808 and were back up $1.24 million last year.
The township sued him in April 2021 in Area III Court looking for $14,999, based on average monthly amounts of $4,025 paid in 20217 through 2019. The court issued a judgement in that amount that September. It went unpaid so they sued again in November 2021, to no avail.
Burks said when they learned the hotel might be up for sale they had to file suit again earlier this month, for "greater than $76,475″ for unpaid taxes since November 2021.
"We have to hold them accountable, it may cost us $1.50 to get a dollar but it's important for us to hold these hotel owners and mangers accountable to the taxpayers that are paying these lodging taxes," Burks said.
Khokhar reluctantly spoke to the Journal-News and said "I am working on getting that resolved and getting everything whole with the township."
He blamed the pandemic for being behind.
"It did put us in a grave role for two years. It just has been difficult to dig out of it," Khokhar said. "Finally after almost three years it has somewhat gotten back to where we were before the pandemic hit. So now we're finally able to resolve all things that were in the backlog."
Barb Wilson, director of of public information and engagement, told the Journal-News he did reach out to the township directly to try and work out a payment plan, but he never showed up to the meeting and "we're getting no feedback from him, he's not responding."
The county sued in September 2022 and Common Pleas Judge Greg Howard issued a final appealable order June 1 ordering a $64,824 judgement against Marvel and Khokhar for 2021 and 2022 because they have "failed to plead or otherwise defend in this action." He indicated Khokhar paid the $23,158 he owed for 2020.
Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser said they are waiting for the appeals time limit to expire and if he doesn't file anything they will take him to collections. Gmoser said he had no sympathy for the pandemic excuse.
"Frankly I am growing real tired of the pandemic excuses on how governments deal with issues. That excuse has worn real thin as far as I'm concerned," Gmoser said. "The next step is to proceed with collection proceedings and that's what we'll be doing."
