A Brighton hotel project will not collect on some of the controversial tax benefits awarded to it by COMIDA. | Brighton Lodging was to receive about $180,000 in sales and mortgage tax exemptions for its renovation of the former Wellesley Inn on East Henrietta Road. The company, however, said it couldn't find the local labor required for the sales-tax exemption, says Judy Seil, COMIDA's acting director, so it asked the agency to withdraw the benefit. | The mortgage tax benefit is still in place, since it doesn't depend on local labor, Seil says. That benefit amounts to a $20,000 loss to the town of Brighton, says Ray Tierney, a town councilman and COMIDA critic. | Tierney, local labor groups, and other critics opposed the benefits package, saying it wasn't truly beneficial to Brighton or the county. The project would create only one job and Brighton, they said, would lose out on needed tax revenue. Too, hotels shouldn't be given benefits, they said, because they are market-driven and locate based on potential for customers. | While not a clear victory for COMIDA opponents, they still see it as a positive development. | "I would like to think it's some of the scrutiny and pressure we're putting on them," Tierney says.