One-time back payment boosts hotel-motel receipts; normalized collections remain low

Finance staff (Speaker 5) told the committee that a marketplace operator recently provided previously unreported hotel-motel tax returns and payment for 2021–2023, producing a one-time inflow of “approximately 174,000 this month,” plus two prior-month payments totaling about $10,000.

Speaker 5 said those payments total roughly $184,000 outside the normal monthly collections and described the receipt as one-time: “That is a 1 time That will not be you see repeated.” He added that, when normalized to remove those out-of-period receipts, the month’s collections were at the lowest level seen in the past four years.

The presentation also covered auto-rental tax and reserve changes. Speaker 5 reported that auto rental produced its highest October on record and that increases in reserves included $35,000 for the conference center and $39,000 year to date for auto rental, yielding a $74,000 year-to-date increase in distributions. The finance update noted no other major changes, and staff said business-license renewals will be mailed next week and the annual audit presentations are expected at the January council meeting.

Committee members asked about a negative reserve entry on the combined report; Speaker 5 explained that an extra $31,000 distribution pulled reserves negative for the month but that year-to-date reserves remain positive. After discussion, Council members moved and seconded a motion to receive and file the finance report; the motion carried on a hand-raise vote.

The committee did not adopt any new policy in the meeting; staff said they will continue to monitor collections and make adjustments as necessary.