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Two Rivers reports roughly 10% drop in room-tax revenue for 2025; STR inspections completed
Summary
Tourism Director Joe Metzen told the council the city’s room-tax revenue declined about 10% in calendar 2025; the room tax commission ended the year with just over $75,000 and the city completed on-site inspections under a new short-term rental ordinance.
Two Rivers — Tourism Director Joe Metzen reported on Feb. 16 that room-tax revenue for calendar year 2025 was down nearly 10% from 2024 and that the room tax commission closed the year with slightly more than $75,000 in its general fund.
"We were down almost 10%, from year over year 2024 compared to 2025 with room tax revenue," Metzen said. He explained the commission changed its reporting to an accrual basis for 2025 so monthly comparisons with 2024 (still on a cash basis) are imperfect but said the new approach should better match revenue to the months events occurred.
Metzen said the city finished 2025 with 34 short-term rental properties and expects that number to fall to about 31 or 32 in summer 2026 as a few units convert to full-time residences. He described an inspections program conducted after an STR ordinance update that established an adult-overnight-occupancy rate; inspections were carried out with staff from the inspections office and later coordinated with new staff member Jeff Saatchi.
A police representative told the council the department reached out to property owners to assist with compliance and supported the inspection process.
The presenter noted statewide tourism and county economic-impact data will be available in May following National Travel and Tourism Week.
