Polls open at 7 a.m. today in Lawton for registered voters who plan to cast ballots in the hotel-motel tax election.
The ballot proposition is asking voters whether they want to extend the hotel-motel tax for 10 more years and to increase its total by 1.5 percent, to 7 percent. The existing five-year tax, now 5.5 percent, expires April 30. The new tax would go into effect May 1.
That tax is charged on the rental of hotel and motel rooms in Lawton, generating about $1.2 million a year that the ballot — and the city ordinance creating the tax — restricts to expenditures that encourage, promote and foster conventions, tourism, industrial development and economic development. Supporters say that revenue supports activities as diverse as economic development, luring state and national conventions to Lawton, funding the fireworks display that closes out the annual Freedom Festival, and aiding groups such as Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra and Lawton Heritage Association (which operates the Mattie Beal Home).
In addition to changing the length of time and total of the tax, this year’s proposal would extend the tax to Airbnb and similar rental establishments, capturing revenue from what has become an increasingly popular housing option, said Ward 4 Councilman Jay Burk. That extension is the reason what has been called the hotel-motel tax since its creation in 1986 is designated the Hotel/Transient Guest Tax in city code.
That ordinance defines hotel as including vacation rental homes, transient guest homes, tourist homes, houses or courts, rooming houses, bed and breakfast establishments, trailer houses and dormitory spaces where bed space is rented to individuals or groups. It also adds a new operator category: a person or entity who charges for the occupancy or receives a service fee or commission from the occupancy of a room.
The ordinance retains a long-standing provision that specifies the tax is charged only to those who do not live in Lawton. Lawton residents who can prove their address are excluded, as are those working for the U.S. government or any agency or division thereof and the State of Oklahoma and any political subdivision thereof. That includes military personnel in Lawton on military orders.
In past years, the 5.5 percent tax has generated about $1.2 million annually, but city officials cut that estimate in half for the 2020-2021 fiscal year when creating the city budget last spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect (occupancy rates have since recovered, officials said). City officials estimate the 1.5 percent increase in the tax would generate another $300,000.
Tax revenues are remitted to the City of Lawton, which allocates funds based on a formula set by the City Council.
In past years, that has meant 70 percent went to the chamber and the Lawton Economic Development Corporation (this fiscal year, the allocation was 60 percent), 14 percent to tourism (this year, 18 percent), 11 percent to the city’s economic development fund (this year, 15 percent) and 5 percent to the Lawton Enhancement Trust Authority (this year, 7 percent).
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February 09, 2021 at 02:00PM
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