Board directs staff on discretionary TOT after hours of debate; funds trimmed for roads and economic development

El Dorado County supervisors on Feb. 11 debated options for reallocating the county's discretionary transient occupancy tax as DTOT revenues drop and then approved a mixed plan that will fold DTOT into the county budget while cutting some specific commitments.

The board heard a detailed presentation from the county's chief administrative office that forecast a roughly $2 million shortfall in DTOT for fiscal 2025—6 and proposed two general approaches: (1) prioritize county operations and stop funding outside promotion agencies, or (2) keep the same categories and apply a roughly 24% across-the-board reduction. Departments and outside agencies were asked to prepare budgets on that basis.

At a public meeting that included hours of testimony from chambers of commerce, tourism groups and multiple fire districts, county staff also outlined how DTOT had shifted since 2019: Tahoe Basin receipts account for roughly two-thirds of the revenue and the county projects $7.2 million to $7.7…