The village planning board proposed the idea to the board of trustees as one of the recommendations to come out of its review of tourist accommodations.

Planning board chairman Paul Kuhn said last week the board saw a bed tax as a way for the village to recover some or all of the costs associated with tourism - much of which is currently borne by village taxpayers.

"The reason is that we're living in a community of 2,000 plus people and probably 1,500 or more get no economic benefit from tourism, but are paying for it through their taxes," Kuhn said.

The village, he added, estimates that tourism costs run as high as $400,000 to $450,000 annually.

Tourism is one of the engines that drives our local economy and to some extent everyone benefits from a robust business climate, but many village taxpayers derive little benefit from the 350,000 or more visitors to the Hall of Fame each year.

The county is working to double its bed tax to four percent, but has shown little interest in sharing the increased revenue with Cooperstown, not to mention other municipalities.

The village has been successful lately in securing grant funds and should continue to apply for more, but grants can be a very hit-and-miss proposition and certainly not something you can count on when formulating budgets.

What is needed is another revenue stream that can generate enough money to relieve some of the burden from village taxpayers.

There are limited possibilities - a tax or fee on Hall of Fame tickets has been talked about, but went nowhere.

A village bed tax may be the answer.

The lodging industry and the chambers of commerce will likely oppose it as many of them did when the county voted to raise its bed tax.

They warned that it would drive people away and may result in killing the goose that laid the golden egg, but we doubt it.

The planning board talked about a tax rate of one-half to one percent of the room fee - between 75 cents and $1.50 added to the cost of $150.00 room and to our way of thinking, a small price to ask visitors to pay.

Trustees are not facing the same deadline for instituting a bed tax as they are for changes in the zoning law which must be completed by the end of the moratorium.

There is ample opportunity to give this idea the thorough research and debate it and the village taxpayers deserve.