Fannin County and the City of Blue Ridge’s Hotel/Motel Excise Tax is designed to fund public amenities and promote tourism.
Currently, the county charges 5% tax, and the city charges an 8% tax that is collected from lodging providers who charge the tax on each guests’ bill.
Taxed lodging providers include, but are not limited to, hotels, motels, inns, lodges, tourist camps, tourist cabins and campgrounds.
Several months back, the county requested that Georgia’s General Assembly pass legislation to allow them to increase the excise tax from 5% to 6%, and the Blue Ridge City Council recently had their own raised to 8%.
At 6%, Georgia law requires 50% of revenue go toward the county’s use and the remaining go toward marketing or 50% go toward the county, 41 2/3% go toward marketing and 8 1/3% go toward tourism product development (TPD).
TPD includes things like campsites, pools, convention centers and recreation areas, for example.
Funds for marketing and TPD are administered by Fannin County Chamber of Commerce for both the city and county per Georgia law.
The law states that a 501c-6 (business leagues, chambers of commerce, etc.) must administer the restricted funds to keep politics out of the equation.
“The tourism product development funds are supposed to be used to improve the visitor experience, but truthfully, they offer a way to improve things for everyone,” said Chamber of Commerce President Jan Hackett.
These changes could result in about $170,000 for TPD, marketing would be around the same, and the county could bring in $100,000 based off of 2019’s figures, Hackett said.
At 8%, Georgia law requires 37.5% be used for the city and 62.5% be used for marketing or 37.5% be used for the city, 43.75% be used for tourism and 18.75% be used for TPD.
For the city, this change could result in $57,236.59 for TPD, a $50,000 increase for marketing, and a $43,000 increase for the city, Hackett said.