1993-06-07 Special Called Joint Workshop Meeting

Browse Search

__ ..~_ ~Ot~lRLti~i~~~"S 7~xas H~otol ~ MQtel Aaaoclot~on Hniise Biil 1023 Relating to Hotel ~~ AVa., 9tllto 370 4vcr the last five yoars, nearly 40 pereeni of TH8tM~1 Lima has ~ ns of a tn~jor thcne-the room tax abtue. ~ 1023 o a ~ ~~ communities of all sip • have had with this law. It's s has been m$dc. ~~a"•~•~•~I~w • • . r .lviajor changes in the bill include the following provisions: 1. Texas Attorney General way invesdgata alleged abuses of room tax spending. 2. NO entity that is respvnsible for spezidang room tax funds for A&SP for tourism w.d canvendons may co•t~.ingle room tax funds with othe~c nvenucs. 'Ibis w~l ittstu+e the integrity of the raotn tax funds. 3, fintiries chat do things ather'than the tourism and convez,tion funndon, such as chambGra of commerce, tray not spend room ta~c money 4or those other guocdwnt. Phis mews that if a small chamber of commerce has a aacretary who makes 51,000 per month, and thst dNy fifteen percent of hey tune is spent is the tourismlconvendon warlc of the chamber. then no more tban S 1 SO per month &oaa the room sac tray b~ used to pay her salary. 4. N 0 room tax money may be spent for general revenue purp osas for any govemstaettt endry that collects the tax. This means that those tides presondyy r4tttining a ~etcearage of the room tax as a fee for handling the tax are in vtoladon of thelaw. S. Entities with which a city or county contracts to spend the room tax ars required to submit a general budget to the governmental entity prior to funding, and must also submit full details of how the mone~r has been spent to that ggoovernmental entity. THdtMA believes this makes the room tax subject to the Texas Open lZeeords Law, and hocmliars have every right to ask for a full accounting of how room taut revenues have been pant. , 6. Tn the past. historical groups have had no capon the anwunt of taonay they could request and extract from room tax collections. Now, with tha passage Of I~ 102, there are some Caps on historical spendutg. for examples in Fort Wonh, historteal ~rovps could have asked for up to nearly SS percent of tha room.ta~c collecpons: under Ii81023, their maxunum allowancC Will be SO pCrcenL OthCt prvvisianti for rbotn taz e;Uocatioas for historical groups vary based ocr the size of the ci nndlor the amovtttt of roams tax collected. ZH&MA encourages tnembars.to contact our of~ce for detatla. ,:; . 7. There was considerable pressure fxoa3 very 3nfluendol att9 groups sand thelrweaithy patxons to increase tbo percentage of the cnorey pemrittasl to,go tv the nrra. ~i7HdtMA was successful i.a basting back these challenges, the asaat outrageous of which would have allowed the arts to commartd a minimum 1~ percant of the revenues, with uttlitnital access to ALL of the room ta~c. Now, !g a city levies a tax of seven percent. arts groups may request up to 15 pcrccnt of the room fast collected ... i ..i.,~',.. .. If a city collects less than seven percent, ,arts groups may request ftusds as follows: If the t8x rs 6 ptrCent; 1b,67 percent tray go to the att. If the tic is S percent: 20.00 percent nosy go to the arts. If the tax is 4 pesrertt: 25.00 pcrccnt may go to the errs. If the tax is 3 pcrccnt: 33.33 pcrccnt mey ga tv the ertt.