The Hawai‘i Lodging & Tourism Association, a 700-member trade organization, held a press conference today to oppose Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s proposal to increase property taxes for the lodging industry.

The press conference, held at the Royal Hawaiian, A Luxury Collection Resort, comes in advance of Honolulu City Council’s final vote on real property tax measure Resolution 19-55, which will be held Wednesday at Honolulu Hale. The presser drew representatives from properties across Oahu, even the west side.

HLTA, which represents 50,400 lodging rooms statewide, said the proposed increase puts too much pressure on an already softening industry.Under the proposed hike, owners of hotel and resort land would pay $13.90 for every $1,000 of assessed value, $1 more than the $12.90 per $1,000 they now pay. The increase would raise about $17 million more annually.

So far, four Honolulu City Council members, including Ann Kobayashi, Carol Fukunaga, Kymberly Marcos Pine and Heidi Tsuneyoshi, have backed HLTA.Mufi Hannemann, HLTA president and CEO, said that’s one vote shy of what the organization needs to defeat what he calls a “short-sighted” measure.

Caldwell said the increase is intended to help cover the cost of the first segment of rail, from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium, which is slated to come online in December 2020, and is estimated to run the city roughly $30 million to cover operations and maintenance for the service during its first six months. It’s also intended to cover added expenses for operations and for first responders, parks and other departments that provide city services, he said.

“The city like any other business is trying to control costs but, also look for revenue because our operations keep going up,” Caldwell said during a gaggle with reporters at his Honolulu Hale office today. “Our operations keep going up. Almost 50 percent of those operations are beyond our control— its retirement benefits, health benefits those kinds of things.”

Caldwell said the city budget wouldn’t be able to withstand the shortfall if the measure failed.

But Hannemann, who is a former Honolulu mayor, said the increase represents a piling on for the visitor industry, which already withstood an increase in 2014, when the rate was was raised 50 cents from $12.40 per $1,000.

April marked the sixth month in a row that more visitors came to Hawaii than the previous year, while creating less economic benefit.Arrivals have been growing since February 2017, but tourism spending has been falling every month since November. Hannemann said hotel occupancy rates have declined, too.

“We want to remind our city leaders that there’s a tipping point,” Hannemann said. “All is not well visitor spending and occupancy rates are declining. Labor agreements have driven up costs for the visitor industry.”

Hannemann said if Council won’t eliminate the rate hike, perhaps it could compromise by halving the $1 increase.