COOPERSTOWN _ For the second meeting in a row, the Otsego County Board of Representatives has rejected abandoning efforts to collect bed tax from the county's youth baseball camps.
The votes have come despite county Attorney James Konstanty's expressed opinion that the provision requiring the camps to pay does not conform to state law.
The provision to tax the camps was added to the occupancy tax law in 2006, when Rodney Klafehn was county attorney.
The 4 percent levy, also called a bed tax, is levied on accommodations.
None of the county's youth baseball camps has ever paid it, and when the county tried to collect it from the Cooperstown Dreams Park, it sued, saying that state law allows bed tax only on accommodations that are open to the public.
Because the bunkhouses at the Dreams Park are not open to anyone other than its campers, the camp should be exempted, the Park's attorney, Garo Gozigian of Cooperstown, argued.
Konstanty holds the same view, and he has advised the board to lobby for a change in state law if it wants to extend the bed tax to commercial camps.
Klafehn, who was succeeded by Konstanty in January, said that last year he contacted state officials, who were divided on whether the county would prevail in court.
``These kind of large, commercial camps are a fairly new development, and I thought we should test this in court, let a judge decide,'' he said a few weeks ago.
But the lawsuit has been dropped.
Last month, Konstanty signed a stipulation where the county would not try to collect the tax and the Dreams Park would drop its lawsuit.
The board's leadership tried to ratify this decision June 18, but fell short of a majority.
At Wednesday's board meeting, Rep. Betty Anne Schwerd, R-Burlington, proposed that the board vote again on the resolution to drop the tax on the camps.
Her motion was seconded by Rep. Greg Relic, R-Unadilla, Administration Committee chairman, but was defeated by a coalition of Republicans and Democrats, including Reps. Stephen Fournier, R-Milford; Katherine Stuligross, D-Oneonta; Scott Harrington, R-Oneonta; Kathy Clark, R-Otego; Keith McCarty, R-Springfield; and Cathy Rothenberger, D-Oneonta.
Six representatives supported the measure, but their combined weighted vote of 2,777 fell short of the 3,084 needed for a majority. Reps. Marti Stayton and Richard Murphy, both Democrats, were absent.
As soon as the tally was recorded, Stuligross asked Konstanty how it would affect the lawsuit.
Konstanty said nothing would happen, because he'd settled with the Dreams Park ``as you unanimously agreed I should.''
``No, we didn't,'' Stuligross said.
Konstanty said he had been given the green light during executive session.
``Can you make that kind of decision in executive session?'' she asked.
"Yes, in legal matters,'' said Konstanty, as the board went into executive session again and the room was cleared.
When Konstanty was asked what comes next, he said the county treasurer would calculate what was owed under the statute, and the county would proceed from there.
Outside the meeting, county treasurer Myrna Thayne said she was surprised by the vote and would consult with Konstanty before taking action.
On Wednesday night, board chairman James Powers, R-Butternuts, said he recalled that Konstanty, in executive session, asked for permission to settle the lawsuit. Some representatives who now oppose the move were silent, he said.
Powers said the county will probably try to collect the tax from camps such as Cooperstown Baseball World and Cooperstown All-Star Village, but not from Cooperstown Dreams Park.
