FISCAL NOTE
Date Requested: February 18, 2015 Time Requested: 12:57 PM |
Agency: |
Association of Counties |
CBD Number: |
Version: |
Bill Number: |
Resolution Number: |
3114 |
Introduced |
SB512 |
|
CBD Subject: |
County Officials |
---|
|
FUND(S):
Hotel Occupancy Tax/County Govt & CVBs
Sources of Revenue:
Other Fund county revenue/CVB revenu
Legislation creates:
Neither Program nor Fund
Fiscal Note Summary
Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.
This measure will reduce hotel occupancy tax revenue to county government and convention & visitors bureaus (CVBs). For example, a hotel that is part of recent court case provided 80,000 plus complimentary rooms in 2014 and did not collect the hotel occupancy tax for those rooms. The county & CVB received $137,527 in hotel occupancy tax from that hotel in 2014. In 2008, the same hotel comped only 10,000 rooms but from its other rooms collected $378,533 in hotel occupancy tax. The difference between hotel occupancy tax collection in 2008 & 2014 due to number of comped rooms is $241,006.
Fiscal Note Detail
Effect of Proposal |
Fiscal Year |
2015 Increase/Decrease (use"-") |
2016 Increase/Decrease (use"-") |
Fiscal Year (Upon Full Implementation) |
1. Estmated Total Cost |
-241,006 |
0 |
0 |
Personal Services |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Current Expenses |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Repairs and Alterations |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Assets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Other |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2. Estimated Total Revenues |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):
The hotel occupancy tax has specific uses by county government including promotion of tourism, CVBs receive 50% of the hotel occupancy tax, If the number of comped rooms continue to be in the 70% range annually, both the area CVBs and county government will see an annual loss and decline in services for which the hotel occupancy tax is dedicated.
Memorandum
It can be assumed that the increased gaming revenue that goes to the county due to guests that occupy the comped rooms may defray the loss of hotel occupancy tax revenue. These are unknowns: would those guests be there if the rooms were not comped? Would they object to paying the taxes on the rooms even if they do not pay for the rooms themselves? Would paying those taxes be a deterrent to staying in a comped room?
Person submitting Fiscal Note: Patricia Hamilton
Email Address: patti@wvaco.org