Lubbock County tax office reports December venue and short‑term rental tax receipts up from prior month and year-to-date

The Lubbock County Tax Office reported collections for venue and short‑term rental (occupancy) taxes during the commissioners court meeting on Jan. 13, 2025.

Jasmine Sanchez of the Lubbock County Tax Office told the court that December collections totaled $297,677.52 for the reporting month (hotel collections $220,043.36; car collections $77,634.16) and that the total paid returns for the month included 128 payments. For other reporting periods, Sanchez reported hotel collections of $12,171.29 (paid: 5) and car collections of $7,147.43 (paid: 3), totaling $19,318.72 for those periods.

Sanchez provided fiscal-year totals through Dec. 31, 2024: hotel receipts of $465,341.91 (penalties $594.74) and car receipts of $161,459.13 (penalties $324.46), for a combined fiscal-year total of $627,720.24. She said monthly collections were up about 7% compared with the prior month and the fiscal-year total was up about 6% compared with the previous year.

Account balances and disbursements: Sanchez reported total deposits into the Venue bank account through Dec. 31, 2024, of $18,752,718.15 and total disbursements of $7,000,908,605.90 as of that date, leaving a reported balance of $10,844,112.25. (The disbursement figure appears inconsistent with the deposit and balance figures as reported in the transcript.)

Why it matters: Venue and short‑term rental tax revenue funds county venue operations and can affect future disbursements to venue-related programs and facilities. The tax office’s monthly and fiscal-year totals provide checkpoints for county budgeting and venue administration.

Questions from the court: The transcript records no substantive follow-up questions beyond a brief acknowledgment; commissioners thanked Sanchez for the update.

Ending: The court received the report and moved on to subsequent agenda items.