Talent council adopts 11% transient lodging tax, directs state to collect

The Talent City Council on an evening vote adopted Ordinance 2025-988-O imposing an 11% transient lodging tax and directed the city manager to enter an intergovernmental agreement with the Oregon Department of Revenue to collect the new levy. Council also amended the ordinance’s revenue split so 70% of proceeds will be dedicated to tourism promotion and tourism-related facilities and 30% will go to the general fund. The ordinance replaces the city’s prior transient room tax code (section 3.05) with updated transient lodging tax language and expands the taxable base to include online platforms such as Airbnb. City staff told the council the Department of Revenue estimated roughly 90 days from signing an IGA to begin collections and that the department would retain an administrative fee — staff said it begins with a 4% withholding and is adjusted later under the department’s formula. Council members debating the distribution said tourism-promotion funding would support events and visitor-attracting activities that generate local business revenue. A council amendment proposing the 70% tourism/30% general fund split passed on a roll call; the main ordinance then passed on a separate roll call. The council also voted to direct the city manager to sign the IGA with the Oregon Department of Revenue. The ordinance names tourism-promotion expenditures as support for visitor-attracting events and related facilities, including park elements and public spaces used by those events. Staff said that, beyond the ordinance’s stated split, the council and future budget committees retain discretion at each budget cycle to allocate lodging-tax proceeds. The council did not specify an exact start date for collections beyond staff’s estimate tied to the IGA timeline. Staff will return to implement collection procedures and to develop processes for awarding tourism-promotion funds to community organizations if council chooses to distribute funds to external groups.