John Thomas is spot on regarding the $4 in excess costs to the city for tourists which are not recoverable by the city.
Presently the city uses about $20 million in property tax to cover the shortfall. State law greatly restricts options for cities to raise revenue through taxes and fees.
In a July 2017 report to certain councilmembers John outlined 17 options for the city to consider to help cover its excess costs from tourists. State law greatly restricts cities as to how they can generate revenue.
Of the 17 items John proposed all but five required voter approval. The remaining five required city council approval.
In addition, some measures will not collect enough revenue to make sense and some
may be politically unpopular, such as tax on Pageant of the Masters, Art-a-Fair, or Sawdust Art Festival admission tickets.
Transient occupancy tax could be increased as was done recently and extended to other goods and services by hotels.
Options that will generate the most revenue: a gross receipts tax for bars and restaurants, city business gross receipts tax, and increase of local sales tax. Beverly Hills has used gross receipts taxes to generate a lot of revenue. These all require voter approval.
City Council options: institute trolley fares, increase parking fees, or extend parking to South Laguna.
There have been multiple letters in the Indy over the last few years about this issue.
Perhaps the above discussion will shed some light on the difficulties in getting more money out of tourists.
I have discussed these points with certain city councilmembers. I am not saying that the city should not pursue some of these options. however, they will take voter approval and become political. They will have to resonate with voters to get the necessary support.
George Orff, Laguna Beach
