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The battle over a headquarters hotel wages on.

The Coalition for Fair Budget Priorities, a band of 250 local hoteliers and business owners, today appealed a recent Multnomah County decision that effectively blocked the group from referring the $197.5 million development plan to voters.

The group on Dec. 23 filed a referendum petition to seek a public vote before the project would be allowed to proceed. But then Tim Scott, director of the Multnomah County Elections Division, issued a letter stating that the initiative and referendum process is reserved for vetting legislative policy matters, not executive or administrative powers – those exercised when county commissioners approved the hotel’s financing plan.

“We think it’s a blatant attempt to avoid accountability on this convention (center) hotel deal,” said Sandeep Kaushik, spokesman for the coalition. “We think legally the county doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”

The proposed plan to build a 600-room Hyatt Regency hotel serving the Oregon Convention Center calls for using $60 million of Metro-issued revenue bonds, $14 million of government subsidies and $4 million from Metro’s reserves. The developer – a joint venture between Mortenson Development and Hyatt – would pay the remaining $119.5 million.

The revenue bonds that Metro would issue would be repaid via the Visitor Facilities Trust Account.

All visitors to area hotels pay 12.5 percent in taxes – 2.5 percent typically to the VFTA. However, 11.5 percent of the taxes generated at the headquarters hotel would go to the VFTA, and money from that pot would then be used to pay down its debt (but only after repayment of three other projects that take priority, including the 2011 convention center expansion).

Opponents are concerned that if the hotel did not generate anticipated revenues, Metro would need to draw upon the VFTA to pay for the building. In that situation, hoteliers would essentially be funding a competitor.

Cheryl Twete, senior development adviser at Metro, said that worst-case scenario is highly unlikely, and that the bond money would be issued conservatively to ensure the hotel would be able to cover the tab. Also, if VFTA dollars were used to pay down the hotel’s debt without a contribution from Hyatt, Twete said a new legal avenue has been created to require Metro to repay that money.

“We will continue to work with our national experts to make sure that it is a reasonable and viable pro forma,” she said. “We don’t want to set these bonds up to not be successful. We don’t want to draw upon the VFTA. So we will build in as many protections as we can.”

Opponents also worry that Hyatt, when necessary, will undercut rates to fill rooms.

Project advocates, however, say that a block of 500 rooms near the convention center will result in more business for all hotels because the center will attract conventions that previously passed over Portland. Metro reports that the convention center lost 847,000 room nights in the five years leading up to 2012 because of insufficient hotel rooms.

Kaushik said the hoteliers believe Scott erred in his interpretation of their legal rights, and said he thinks the decision was merely an attempt to delay their efforts to obtain signatures. Kaushik said his group has just 90 days to collect 11,234 signatures to get the project on a ballot measure. Kaushik said the coalition will ask the Multnomah County Circuit Court for immediate permission to continue gathering signatures.

Hank Stern, communications officer for Multnomah County, said the Elections Divisions’ decision was based solely on legal grounds.

“It was in response to the legal advice that the elections folks got,” he said. “It was not done to forestall anything.”

Meanwhile, at least 10 major convention center projects are on tap in other U.S. cities, according to Reed Construction Data. Those projects include the:

• $4 billion New York International Convention & Exhibition Center in Jamaica (Queens), New York City

• $800 million Gaylord Rocky Mountain Hotel & Convention Center in Aurora, Colo.

• $520 million San Diego Convention Center in San Diego

• $350 million Las Vegas Event Center in Las Vegas

• $254 million LA Convention Center in Los Angeles

• $220 million Albany Convention Center in Albany, N.Y.

• $200 million Sacramento Convention Center Complex in Sacramento, Calif.

• $191 million Oklahoma City Convention Center in Oklahoma City

• $180 million Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, Ky.

• $150 million Tysons Corner Conference Center in McLean, Va.