New York City diners may soon see a Covid-19 surcharge on their bills as the restaurant industry continues to hobble due to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

由于新冠疫情，餐饮业的处境仍然艰难，纽约市的食客们可能很快就会在账单上看到“疫情恢复费”。

 

The New York City Council passed a bill on Wednesday 46-2 that would allow restaurants to charge as much as 10% on customers dining indoors or outdoors to help cover Covid-19 expenses.

 

Labeled the "COVID-19 Recovery Charge," the surcharge does not add to the bill's overall tax, nor applies to delivery or takeout orders. A restaurant implementing¹ the surcharge is free to use the new funds however it likes, though it must also make it clear that the surcharge is not a substitute for a tip or gratuity² for waitstaff.

 

Republican City Councilman Joseph Borelli, the bill's prime sponsor, told CNN that the new option will help owners who don't want to go through the trouble of raising prices on their menus.

 

"New York was actually the only city that we knew of that actually had a ban, a 45-year-old law made when the Department of Consumer Affairs essentially³ reorganized, and it prevented restaurants, the only industry in New York City, from applying a surcharge," he explained.

 

"If you go to a hair salon⁴, a gas station, or any other business in the city of New York, the owner is allowed to charge you a surcharge for basically whatever they want," Borelli said. "They obviously have to disclose it and you have to agree to pay it, but they're allowed to. It's only restaurants that are banned from this."

 

Once the bill is signed, restaurants would be able to tack⁵ on the surcharge up to 90 days after full indoor dining is restored and there is no longer a statewide disaster emergency declared for the virus.

 

Mayor Bill de Blasio is said to support the bill that passed Wednesday, though there are no details yet on when he will sign it.

 

"We will support the bill as long as there is a guarantee that restaurant workers will at least earn similar wages before the pandemic," said Anthony Advincula, spokesman for Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a non-profit advocating for higher wages and better working conditions for restaurant workers.

 

Advincula further stressed that proper enforcement is necessary, and said he hopes that customers will realize the surcharge does not go directly to workers per se.

 

Restaurants could face a civil penalty between $50 and $350 for not adhering to the rules, according to the bill.

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