Trinity County advisory board advances draft plan for tourism assessment district; nonprofit formation and timing remain under discussion

Trinity County advisory board members and consulting staff spent the meeting reviewing a draft plan to form a tourism assessment district and the nonprofit that would manage it, discussing key design choices including the proposed 3% assessment rate, a five-year term, who would govern the funds and a start date for collections.

The discussion focused on process and timing: Civitas consultant Katie explained the legal mechanism under the Property and Business Improvement District Law of 1994 and sketched steps to form a nonprofit (articles of incorporation, EIN, bylaws, a first board meeting and IRS filings). Several lodging owners and board members urged a later start date so businesses could prepare and avoid collecting during the current peak season.

The advisory board’s draft management district plan sets a proposed 3% per-transaction assessment on short-term lodging, collected quarterly by the county alongside transient occupancy tax (TOT) collections, with a five-year term and a possible annual increase capped at 1% per year. Katie described how the assessment differs from TOT: “So this is an assessment, not a tax,” she said, noting assessment revenues would be held and spent by a nonprofit that the assessed lodging providers would control rather than going into county general funds.

Why this matters: supporters said the district would create a dedicated, locally controlled funding stream for marketing and…