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Staunton City Council makes official the percentage of transient tax to tourism

Rebecca Barnabi
hotel lobby
(© Drobot Dean – stock.adobe.com)

At its regular meeting Thursday, Staunton City Council approved a resolution to clarify wording of the city’s Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT).

TOT is a tax paid by tourists who visit Staunton and stay overnight, but do not live in the city permanently.

“So, this is a cleanup resolution,” said Staunton Assistant City Manager Amanda Kaufman.

In 2007, city council increased the tax from 4 to 5 percent. At the time, a motion was also adopted to allocate the extra percent to a strategic marketing campaign and dedicate the funding for tourism promotion and marketing in Staunton.

In 2016, the city increased the tax from 5 to 6.7 percent, she said. Discussion then included allocating the extra 1.7 percent to marketing efforts that would increase overnight visitations. At some point since then, the city began contributing 2.7 percent from the TOT to the city’s tourism department.

Thursday night’s meeting included discussion to clarify the allocation to tourism in the city’s 2007 ordinance regarding the TOT. City staff discovered that in 2016, the motion and ordinance codifying the TOT increase did not mention that 1.7 percent would go to tourism.

In 2024, the TOT generated $1.3 million. Staunton‘s tourism budget for 2025 is $665,000 and, according to Kaufman, $502,000 will come from the TOT.

Council member Jeff Overholtzer made the motion to approve the clarification of funds to the tourism department from the TOT, and council member Alice Woods seconded the motion.

Rebecca Barnabi

Rebecca Barnabi

Rebecca J. Barnabi is the national editor of Augusta Free Press. A graduate of the University of Mary Washington, she began her journalism career at The Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star. In 2013, she was awarded first place for feature writing in the Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia Awards Program, and was honored by the Virginia School Boards Association’s 2019 Media Honor Roll Program for her coverage of Waynesboro Schools. Her background in newspapers includes writing about features, local government, education and the arts.

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