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Council previews lodging-tax changes; mayor cites $200,000 annual receipts and possible cut to county share
Summary
Mayor Horstman walked council through a draft lodging-tax policy and interlocal agreement and said Langley collects roughly $200,000 annually in lodging taxes; under the draft interlocal, the city’s contribution to the county joint-tourism board would drop from about $50,000 to approximately $25,000, and council asked staff for a simple slide showing which revenue streams and percentages apply.
Mayor Kennedy Horstman paused the meeting to review a lodging-tax policy and a near-final draft interlocal agreement with the county’s joint tourism board that the city will consider in a future packet. She said the documents are complex because lodging tax revenue is composed of multiple statutory revenue streams and different RCWs apply.
"We collect roughly $200,000 total annually in lodging tax. Right now, roughly 25% of that or roughly $50,000 goes to the county joint tourism, board. I'm anticipating if nothing changes... we will moving forward contribute $25,000 versus that $50,000," Horstman said while explaining the difficulty of representing the split consistently in a single document. Council members asked for a simplified slide or pie chart that clearly shows current receipts, the proposed additional 1% and where the county and other entities would receive mandated or discretionary portions.
Council also requested the scoring rubric used by the tourism committee so members can better understand how grant applicants are ranked for tourism funding. Staff said they will circulate the scoring document and prepare a short PowerPoint that separates revenue streams and explains which portions are mandatory and which are optional under the draft interlocal agreement.
