Hotel customers in Juneau would pay 14 percent in taxes to the city under a proposal local officials are considering. And they’d help pay for a new and improved Juneau Arts and Culture Center.
According to data city staff collected, Juneau’s hotels would tie for third for the highest combined hotel tax and sales tax rate in the state. The local hotel tax is 7 percent and may increase to 9 percent. The existing 5 percent sales tax isn’t affected by the current proposal.
In committee Wednesday, the Juneau Assembly discussed and amended the proposal to increase hotel bed taxes. Assemblyman Loren Jones proposed the increase last month to raise $1.6 million for a new Juneau Arts and Culture Center.
“My intent is to raise the bed tax, it hasn’t been raised since the mid-’80s,” Jones said. “I wanted a portion of that 1.6 (million dollars) to go toward the JACC. They estimated this would raise about $400,000 a year, so that would be 4 years.”
If the full Juneau Assembly advances the proposal at its Aug. 21 meeting, voters will get the final say through a local ballot question in the October municipal election. As amended Wednesday, the extra 2 percent tax would be in effect from 2018 through 2021.
The travel industry has been concerned about the bed tax.
“Travel Juneau does appreciate the finance committee’s putting a four-year sunset on that ordinance,” said Travel Juneau CEO Liz Perry. “But we also maintain our position that this new facility, the new JACC, would compete with Centennial Hall and that the additional tax burden may discourage planners from selecting Juneau as a meeting destination.”
Both venues rent space for meetings, events and performances. Arts officials say the new JACC would complement Centennial Hall, not compete.
The hotel tax supports visitor services, including Travel Juneau and Centennial Hall. The new language would add the JACC and parking infrastructure.
