Showing posts with label bed tax. Show all posts

Friday, May 18, 2018

County’s ‘bed tax’ revenue up close to $1.5 million for first six months of fiscal year

May 17, 2018 by Rachel Brown Hackney, Editor & Publisher

March collections came close to the $4-million mark, Sarasota County Tax Collector’s Office reports

Visitors make their way by Big Olaf’s in Siesta Village. Rachel Hackney photo

Through February, the county’s Tourist Development Tax (TDT) revenue was up more than $1 million year-over-year. Thanks to the traditional big boost in March, the total “bed tax” collections so far this fiscal year are almost $1.5 million higher than they were by the end of March 2017, the latest figures show.

March typically is the month during which collections exceed the $3-million mark, Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates and her staff have told members of Sarasota County’s Tourist Development Council. This year, the March figure came its closest yet to the $4-million mark.

The entities that report the revenue to the Sarasota County Tax Collector’s Office collected $3,935,699.06 in March, the Tax Collector’s Office has announced. That was an increase of $401,622.98 compared to the March 2017 TDT figure, the report says.

Overall, through the first six months of this fiscal year, bed tax revenue is up $1,483,768.28, the Tax Collector’s Office data show.

Audits and other revisions of the figures can lead to refined numbers Ford-Coates and her staff also have cautioned. Generally, over the past several years, those changes have been reflected in slight upticks of figures. For example, the numbers for TDT revenue for November and December 2017, as well as for January and February, are higher in the latest report from the Tax Collector’s Office. The February number rose from $249,363,85, as shown in the data reported through March 31, to $276,064, as noted in the report dated April 30.

Yet, the October 2017 number has dipped slightly in the most recent report. Last month, it was listed as $138,779.87. The latest data show it to be $138,777.72.

Oct. 1 marks the start of each county fiscal year.

A chart compares the latest TDT revenue figures to those for preceding fiscal years. Image courtesy Sarasota County Tax Collector’s Office

Overall, the county has collected $13,661,068.08 in TDT revenue so far this fiscal year. Of that total, $565,606.05 was reported by residents who rent accommodations through the Airbnb internet service, the Tax Collector’s Office pointed out.

The previous two fiscal years, the county set records in the amount of TDT it collected. The funds are used for a variety of projects, including beach maintenance and renourishment, as well as to cover the debt service on bonds the county issued to assist with the construction of the new Atlanta Braves Spring Training complex in the West Villages community outside North Port.

The March report also shows Siesta Key passing the city of Sarasota as the location for the highest total of collections. Siesta Key entities that collect the bed tax contributed 30.08% of the total thus far this fiscal year, compared to 28.49% for the city of Sarasota. Siesta typically wins recognition for the highest amount of TDT revenue hosts report each year in specific areas of the county.

In its report on the second quarter of the 2018 fiscal year — provided for the Tourist Development Council meeting scheduled for May 17 — Visit Sarasota County noted that the number of tourists visiting the county from January through March was up 2.7% compared to the same three months of 2017. The March figure was 3.5% higher than the figure for March 2017, the report said, with a total of 169,800.

Moreover, those visitors’ direct spending increased 4% for that quarter, compared to the second quarter of the 2017 fiscal year, the figures showed. The total for the three months, based on research undertaken for Visit Sarasota County, was $413,300,400, the report noted.

January saw the highest year-over-year change: 4.4%, followed by March with 4.1% and February with 3.4%. Direct spending in January was $100,809,700.

A Visit Sarasota County report shows data from the second quarter of the fiscal year. Image courtesy Visit Sarasota County

However, the occupancy rate for hotels/motels/condominiums was down 1.3% for February and 0.8% for both January and March, compared to the figures for the same months in 2017, the report said. The average daily rate charged was up 4.9% in March to $256.94; in February, it was higher by 3.2% year-over-year, at $219.47. For January, the increase was 3%, compared to the figure for January 2017. The figure for this January was $178.57, the report said.

Friday, April 27, 2018

SNL: Bed Tax revenue up in County

‘Bed tax’ revenue up more than $1 million in the county year-over-year through February

April 26, 2018 by Rachel Brown Hackney, Editor & Publisher

Courtesy of the Sarasota News Leader

Each month has seen an increase since fiscal year began on Oct. 1, 2017

While some visitors make their way toward the parking lot, many others gather at Siesta Public Beach for sunset in late February. Rachel Hackney photo

During a March presentation to the Sarasota County Tourist Development Council, Assistant Sarasota County Tax Collector Sherri Smith remarked that the latest Tourist Development Tax (TDT) revenue report showed collections already “up almost $750,000” compared to the figure for the same period of the 2017 fiscal year.

Make that a difference of more than $1 million in “bed tax” money year-over-year, according to the most recent Tax Collector’s Office report.

Through February, collections marked an increase of $1,049,576.68, compared to the revenue reported from October 2016 through February 2017. The February total of $2,858,212.83 was the highest thus far of the current fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1, 2017. Each month during the period reflected in the report has seen a higher figure than the previous month.

The past two years, the county set records for the total amount of bed tax it collected. The money is divided among a number of “pots,” with revenue going to cover initiatives such as beach maintenance and renourishment, as well as debt service on the bonds the county issued to help pay for the Atlanta Braves’ new Spring Training complex underway in the West Villages near North Port.

And the numbers could change. Audits and other revisions of the figures submitted to the Tax Collector’s Office each month by the entities that collect the tax can produce changes, Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates has explained.

In fact, the latest report shows an increase of more than $39,000 for the January TDT figure. The numbers released last month showed total revenue was $163,499.19. However, the new report puts the figure at $201,956.66.

Conversely, the figure for October 2017 dropped a bit, from $139,379.87 in the report issued at the end of February to $138,779.87 in the March Tax Collector’s Office report.

Overall, TDT revenue totals $9,691,173.77 for the first five months of this fiscal year.

The location with the accommodations that have collected the highest percentage of that amount through the end of February is the city of Sarasota, with 29.25%. Siesta Key was in second place with 28.19%.

Included in the figures are Airbnb collections from hosts who work through the internet-based accommodations service. The March 31 Tax Collector’s report says that, for current fiscal year, Airbnb revenue totals $454,285.21.

In an April 3 press release, Airbnb announced that all of its hosts in the 12 Florida cities with teams in Major League Baseball’s Grapefruit League saw “significant spikes in Airbnb guest arrivals during the preseason baseball training as compared to the prior 5-week stretch.” For this year, that Spring Training period ran from Feb. 21 through March 27, the release pointed out.

Among the data for specific cities, the release noted, Sarasota saw a “100% spike” in the number of Airbnb guests, compared to the figure for the 2017 period.

The press release added that Sarasota Airbnb hosts welcomed 12,000 guests for Spring Training and earned $1.1 million from them.

The Baltimore Orioles conduct Spring Training in Sarasota.

Fifteen Major League Baseball teams hold Spring Training games in 12 Florida cities, primarily in Central and Southwest Florida, the release added.