VIDALIA — The effort to increase Vidalia’s tourism advertising budget through a new hotel occupancy tax will have to wait another year.

House Bill 425, which was introduced in the Louisiana Legislature this session by Rep. Andy Anders, D-Vidalia, would have allowed the City of Vidalia to create a tourism authority that could levee a hotel occupancy tax on all hotels in the Vidalia city limits, with the exception of those on the Vidalia Riverfront.

The session ended Monday, however, and the bill never left committee.

The riverfront area was not included in HB 425 because hotels there already have an occupancy tax levied on them for similar purposes.

The funds generated by the new tourism authority would have been used to support the Vidalia Conference and Convention Center and for tourism advertising.

After Anders introduced the bill, it was referred to the House committee on municipal, parochial and cultural affairs, where it sat without consideration.

Anders said HB 425 was “a good bill,” but it was never taken up because the committee had technical questions about it he wasn’t able to get taken care of before the end of the session.

Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland said the city would approach the Legislature again next year with the proposal.

Two hotels are in the early stages of discussions with the city about locating there, Copeland said, and city officials want to be fair to all businesses.

“On the Riverfront, we have the hotel-motel tax, and in my opinion it doesn’t make sense to have it there and not the rest of town,” he said. “It is not doing them fair.”

The hotels paying the tax will ultimately be the beneficiaries of it, Copeland said, because the funds will be used for advertising the area’s tourism opportunities.

Anders said he has discussed the bill with legislators who have had similar measures implemented in their districts, and has gotten advice from them on what did and did not work once the proposals were put in place.

He said he also spoke with the lieutenant governor’s office and the state tourism office about the matter.

Anders would like to work with parish officials about taking the bill parish-wide and creating an authority that could fund tourism advertisement for the entire parish, he said.

Concordia Parish currently has two motels outside of the Vidalia Riverfront area, Relax Inn in Ferriday and Budget Inn in Vidalia.