During their final meeting of the year, they also established a motel and hotel occupancy tax.
At its Dec. 14 meeting, Berlin Council adopted an ordinance moving one step closer to the town’s Comprehensive Master Plan — a vision revitalizing and developing the borough’s downtown commercial district. The ordinance revises commercial zones and permitted uses, striving to revamp decades-old zones for a model that will promote more prosperity.
The project started in January 2016 after Mayor Jim Bilella was sworn into office, leading council to introduce a resolution directing the borough’s planning board to revisit the vision.
“This ordinance focuses on making Berlin a more business-friendly place,” Bilella said. “It took a long time to get here, but we’re here now. This is really what we envisioned in January 2016 of what we’re trying to do — to make Berlin a business-friendly place.”
At the meeting, council also adopted an ordinance establishing a hotel and motel room occupancy tax. There will soon be a 3 percent charge on every room occupancy rental that occurs within any motel or hotel in the borough. This is a municipal occupancy tax that was established by the state Department of Treasury in July 2004.
The tax is charged to occupants’ bills.
Since the police department gets called to those facilities frequently, the tax will help fund those patrol services, officials said.
“Anytime we can take advantage of revenue collection in this type of matter, I think it’s good for citizens of the community,” Solicitor Howard Long said at the Nov. 16 meeting when the ordinance was introduced.
Council also adopted an ordinance establishing rules and regulations for nonprofits that either receive borough funds or utilize borough property.
Nonprofit organizations will be required to supply their annual audit or past two years of financial information, including bank records, to the borough’s chief financial officer by the end of January each calendar year. The reports would most likely be submitted to the borough’s chief financial officer on an annual basis.
In other news:
• Officer Alfred A. Hess was sworn into the police department as a Class II Special Enforcement officer.
• Officer John Waechtler was promoted to sergeant.
• In November, the police handled 1,531 calls, 119 investigations, 19 drug arrest, 52 criminal arrests and 16 warrant arrests.
• For the year to date, 714 calls were made to the Berlin Fire Company.
• Throughout December and into January, the “No Need to Speed” campaign will focus on the entire length of Taunton Avenue, South Franklin Avenue and Chestnut Avenue, and Chestnut and Malan Avenue.
