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City attorney: ORLA lodging-tax settlement to formalize 70/30 TLT split on Wednesday consent agenda
Summary
City attorney Sean Kidd told council the final step in the ORLA litigation settlement is a resolution formalizing a 70/30 split of Transient Lodging Tax (TLT) revenue; councilors discussed past dispute, statewide legislative attention and the settlement’s provision allowing the city to mirror future state law changes.
Sean Kidd, the city attorney, briefed the Albany City Council on Sept. 22 that a resolution formalizing a 70/30 split of transient lodging tax (TLT) revenue related to a settlement with the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association (ORLA) will be on the Sept. 24 consent agenda.
Kidd said the agreement memorializes a 70/30 allocation of TLT revenue — noting the city historically has spent roughly 70% on tourism or tourism-related facilities over many years — and that this resolution is the final administrative step of a case the city and ORLA resolved earlier. He told council the dispute dated back to about 2010 and involved differing interpretations of required allocations: the city previously interpreted the law as requiring roughly 45% for tourism-related spending, while ORLA had argued a much higher percentage.
Councilor Smith told the council that legislative work on TLT allocation took place during the 2025 session, where some discussions considered different splits; Kidd said the settlement allows the city to change its allocation to mirror any future state-law requirement but does not compel a change. Kidd said the settlement language and the draft resolution were included in the meeting packet.
Councilors asked questions about transparency and the resource costs of the legal process. Kidd said the 70/30 settlement reflects negotiations and that the city could adopt a different allocation if state law were to change.
The resolution will appear on the consent calendar at the regular Sept. 24 council meeting for formal adoption; the work session did not include a council vote.
