Shenandoah council approves 1% early-filing discount for hotel occupancy tax; online portal planned

The Shenandoah City Council on May 14 voted 4–1 to adopt an ordinance permitting hotels and motels to take a 1% discount if they file and pay hotel occupancy tax prior to the 10th day of the month using a new online reporting-and-payment portal.

City staff said the portal, being set up with HDL, will let the city require complete exemption paperwork at filing and speed the transmission of occupancy data to marketing partners such as Expedia. A staff presenter said the city currently records about $1,100,000 in annual hotel revenue; if all outlets used the early-filing discount, the staff estimate was roughly $11,000 per reporting period and about $23,000 over a year.

"The initiative behind this program was basically to make sure that we're getting all the documentation that we need," the staff presenter said, adding that most credit-card processing fees would be charged to the payer rather than absorbed by the city.

Council discussion focused on whether the measure should be called a "discount" rather than a rebate, whether the portal would materially increase on-time reporting, and on the budgetary impact. One council member said he would not support any tax abatements or rebates and announced he would not vote for the measure. The ordinance nonetheless passed 4–1.

City staff said the discount is designed as a business incentive to encourage earlier filings so the city and its vendor partners can compile and analyze occupancy trends sooner. The council directed staff to move forward with implementation steps tied to the portal and to ensure exemption paperwork requirements would be enforced at filing.