North Lake Tahoe lodging tax revenue jumps

Hotel taxes increased by 18 percent in Placer County in the fiscal year that ended June 30 compared to 2014-15.

Transient occupancy tax collections in the Tahoe area increased by more than $3 million in the county’s previous fiscal year, from July 2015 through June 2016, including more than $900,000 in unpaid back TOT collected. Collections were especially high during the winter ski season, but up the rest of the year, too.

Nearly 4,000 lodging operators in Placer County are registered to collect TOT.

TOT revenues are spent at the discretion of the Placer County Board of Supervisors. Placer now spends $2 million per year in TOT revenue to improve the TART bus system to better serve workers and visitors and keep cars off the road to improve air and water quality. The additional revenue collected this year will go right back into investment in new priority projects, such as completing missing links in the regional trail network along the north shore and between Truckee and lake shore communities of Tahoe City and Kings Beach.