The hotel-motel tax in Peachtree City may be raised from 6 to 8 percent, pending approval by the City Council and also the Georgia legislature.
As part of the increase, the proposal is for one of the eight percentage points to be dedicated toward capital improvements and maintenance of sports and recreation facilities under the theory that they draw visitors to the community, according to a staff memo provided to the council.
Had the tax increase been enacted in 2011, the city could have seen an increase in hotel-motel taxes of $142,000 and the city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau would have doubled its hotel-motel tax revenue with an additional $284,600.
The discussion will take place during council’s regular meeting Thursday night at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
The proposal would have a slightly negative impact on the hotel-motel tax funding for Falcon Field Airport (also known as Atlanta Regional Airport). Phased in over a 10-year period, the airport would see its annual revenue from the hotel-motel tax cut in half for a total decrease of $51,000.
In a proposed agreement between the city and airport authority, that reduction in revenue would be negated by the city during years in which the airport authority has less than $100,000 in annual operating income. The authority also supports the hotel-motel tax increase.
The proposal also has some significant buy-in from the vast majority of hotel operators in the city including both the Wyndham Peachtree Conference Center and the Dolce Atlanta-Peachtree conference center.
In a letter jointly authored by representatives of those five hotels, it is noted that recreation-based tourism is expected to increase in the coming years based on the additional funds for the city’s sports and concert venues.
Under the city’s current 6 percent hotel tax, none of the funds can be spent directly on recreation projects; instead almost all of the funds must be expended on tourism-related work.
