Delinquent hotel payment drove June occupancy-tax spike; county reconsiders end-to-end portal vendors

Treasurer said Warren County's occupancy-tax collections rose sharply in June after a previously delinquent hotel-resort paid several years of back taxes and associated interest and penalties. "In June, you'll see overall, we're up 20%," the Treasurer told the Occupancy Tax Coordination Committee, adding that hotels, motels and resorts were up "25 percent" and short-term rentals were up "6 percent." The Treasurer said without that annual payment the hotels category would have been down 4% for June and the overall quarter would have been down 7%.

The Treasurer framed the monthly figures while also presenting year-to-date numbers. "From a year to date perspective, we're up 1%," the Treasurer said, noting hotels were essentially flat year-to-date and short-term rentals had risen about 2%. The report also explained timing differences between activity and collections, saying May collections reflect April activity and June collections reflect May activity, which the Treasurer said explained some month-to-month swings.

Why it matters: Collections swings driven by late payments change short-term reporting and complicate…