MARIETTA - Hotel and motel tax collections in unincorporated Cobb dropped 7.5 percent in the first quarter of fiscal year 2010 compared to the same period in FY09.

The county collected $2.3 million compared to $2.5 million in 2009, according to the most recent tax-collection report released by the Cobb Finance Department.

Cobb's fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.

The county collected a total of $9.3 million in FY09, down from $11.1 million collected in the previous fiscal year. Cobb Commission Chairman Sam Olens said tourism in Cobb is not expected to improve this year.

"While the unemployment rate is slightly lower, I do not expect the hotel/motel tax to improve this year," Olens said. "Vacations and corporate travel remain very limited."

Continued slow collections of the hotel/motel tax are not surprising given the economy, said Cobb Finance Director Brad Bowers.

"Hopefully, the economy will begin to recover this year and as it does, so these tax collections will also begin to recover," he said.

Hotel/motel tax collections brought in record revenues between fiscal years 2006 and 2008.

A large portion of the 8 percent so-called "bed tax" that Cobb collects from room occupancies helps pay down debt services for the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority.

Since 2005, county commissioners have agreed to return 37.5 percent of collected tax to help pay for bonds for the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, which opened in September 2007.

In December 2009, collections were down 19.2 percent compared with December 2008.

Among the hotels and motels reporting the most tax in December were the Renaissance Waverly Hotel at 2450 Galleria Parkway, $325,270; Atlanta Marriott Northwest, 200 Interstate North Parkway, $162,102; and Embassy Suites Hotel, 2815 Akers Mill Road, $131,585.