League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	San Mateo County, CA November 3, 2009 Election
	Measure G Transient Occupancy Tax City of Brisbane Majority Approval Required Pass: 536 / 64.7% Yes votes ...... 292 / 35.3% No votes See Also: Index of all Measures

Arguments For Measure G

Arguments Against Measure G

Brisbane's Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), commonly called the "hotel tax" is paid by those who rent hotel rooms in Brisbane. The current hotel room TOT is 10%. This measure would raise the hotel room tax to 12%. At current room and occupancy rates, this measure is estimated to contribute $200,000 per year to the General Fund. The General Fund City pays for city services such as public safety and emergency services, park and field maintenance, road repair, recreation, and open space acquisition and management. Brisbane's General Fund has been impacted by decreasing property values and the associated recession. Current 2009/2010 fiscal year projections are for General Fund revenues to decrease by several hundred thousand dollars. One of the ways to insure continued City services is to increase the Transient Occupancy Tax. This new source of approximately $200,000 a year to the City's General Fund will increase the likelihood that Brisbane's police, fire, street maintenance, parks and recreation, and environmental programs are maintained. If this measure is approved, Brisbane's TOT would remain comparable to that of other cities near the airport. The City Council seeks revenues to provide the services and programs the community expects. The TOT is a beneficial way to produce new revenue from tourists, visitors, and business travelers who use City services. Please help ensure the revenue that's raised here stays here - vote YES on Measure G! The undersigned authors of the Argument in Favor of Measure G at the General Election for the City of Brisbane to be held on November 3, 2009 hereby state that the argument is true and correct to the best of their knowledge and belief. /s/ A. Sepi Richardson, Mayor, City of Brisbane /s/ W. Clarke Conway, Mayor Pro Tem, City of Brisbane /s/ Michael G. Barnes, Councilmember, City of Brisbane /s/ Cyril G. Bologoff, Councilmember, City of Brisbane /s/ Stephen W. Waldo, Councilmember, City of Brisbane Rebuttal to Arguments For Vote NO on RAISING TAXES! Vote NO on Measure G. Raising the Transient Occupancy Tax will make Brisbane less competitive in the local lodging industry and will threaten the existing tax revenue base generated by the hotels; thereby negating any of the proposed increase for the General Fund. By the residents of Brisbane choosing a NO vote on Measure G, the City of Brisbane's two hotels will be more competitive on price than those in neighboring cities. This alone could generate the additional tax revenues needed to protect core services in the City of Brisbane. Otherwise, our two hotels are likely to face more of the same decline in Revenue Per Available Hotel Room and reduction in the Occupancy Tax Revenues. A NO Vote is the only way to ensure the City of Brisbane stays competitive locally and regionally in the struggling lodging industry. Only a LIMITED number of the surrounding areas are proposing raising occupancy taxes (Daly City, San Mateo, South San Francisco, and Burlingame are NOT) and NONE of these proposed tax increases are guaranteed to pass. Higher Transient Occupancy Taxes = loss of competitiveness of our two hotels compared to neighboring cities = lower hotel revenues = lower Transient Occupancy Taxes to help support core services in the City of Brisbane. VOTE NO ON RAISING TAXES! VOTE NO ON MEASURE G. /s/ John P. Henry, General Manager, Radisson Hotel, Brisbane /s/ Gina Merz, General Manager, Homewood Suites Brisbane /s/ George Hawawini, Proprietor, Mangiare and Xebec Restauraants of Brisbane, Brisbane resident /s/ Raymond Nowak, Director of Sales, Radisson Hotel Brisbane /s/ Manny Mateo, Director of Sales, Homewood Suites Brisbane

Raising the Transient Occupancy Tax at hotels in the City of Brisbane is the wrong way to increase revenues for the General Fund in the current economic environment. The local hotels cannot afford a tax increase that will negatively impact our competitiveness and push roomnight demand outside our city limits. A NO vote on Measure G enables our hotels to remain competitive relative to the local area (airport hotels) and regionally (throughout the peninsula). The facts are clear: raising the tax on hotel room revenues chould be a net financial loss to the City of Brisbane. Despite an increase in the percentage of tax, gross tax receipts would liekly decrease as this tax will push demand outside the City of Brisbane were it will support tax revenues and jobs elsewhere. There has been a 22% decline in Revenue per Available Hotel Room in the San Francisco/San Mateo area this year-to-date over last year, driven by lost roomnight demand. Consumers are extremely value conscious and will react negatively to an increase in the hotel tax. Some will tell you that increasing the tax on hotel room revenues is a sound method for increasing revenues for the General Fund. Don't believe it. Simply by maintaining the current rate, while other cities increase, out hotels will become more competitive, experience increased roomnight demand, and benefit the General LFund. It is better to have another roomnight sold for a $100 ($10 to the General Fund) than to have $2 on declining roomnight demand. Measure G calls for an increase in taxes, period. Let's drive tax revenues by increasing total revenues. The City of Brisbane's two hotels must remain competitive to continue generating the roundly $1,000,000 they contribute annually to the General Fund. VOTE NO ON RAISING TAXES! VOTE NO ON MEASURE G. /s/ John P. Henry, General Manager, Radisson Hotel, Brisbane /s/ Gina Merz, General Manager, Homewood Suites Brisbane /s/ George Hawawini, Proprietor, Mangiare and Xebec Restauraants of Brisbane, Brisbane resident /s/ Raymond Nowak, Director of Sales, Radisson Hotel Brisbane /s/ Manny Mateo, Director of Sales, Homewood Suites Brisbane Rebuttal to Arguments Against Raising the Transient Occupancy Tax is the most prudent way for our community to maintain core services without cost to Brisbane residents. A YES vote on Measure G will not harm the competitiveness of Brisbane's two hotels. Other neighboring cities also have an increase of 2% to their local hotel room tax on their November ballots (bringing them to 12% as well), and San Francisco will still have a higher hotel room tax. We support a YES vote on Measure G for the following reasons: funds collected will be paid by people who stay at local hotels funds are generated locally and can't be taken away by the State the money will help maintain parks, open space, senior and youth programs, and Fire and Police services a hotel tax increase from 10% to 12% will not hurt local hotels or prevent tourist dollars from coming to our community as Brisbane's hotel tax will remain comparable to that of neighboring communities Brisbane residents deserve to have revenue that's raised in town, stay in town - and spent on services that matter most. Vote YES on Measure G! /s/ A. Sepi Richardson, Mayor, City of Brisbane /s/ W. Clarke Conway, Mayor Pro Tem, City of Brisbane /s/ Michael G. Barnes, Councilmember, City of Brisbane /s/ Cyril G. Bologoff, Councilmember, City of Brisbane /s/ Stephen W. Waldo, Councilmember, City of Brisbane

Full Text of Measure G

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF BRISBANE INCREASING THE TRANSIENT OCCUPANCY TAX The People of the City of Brisbane, California, hereby ordain as follows: Section 1: Section 3.24.030 in Chapter 3.24 of the Brisbane Municipal Code is amended to read as follows: 3.24.030 Tax Imposed "For the privilege of occupancy in any hotel, each transient is subject to and shall pay a tax in the amount of twelve percent (12%) of the rent charged by the operator. This tax is also applicable to therent of hotel rooms by businesses on a long-term basis for temporary use by their clients or employees. Such tax constitutes a debt owned by the transient to the city, which is extinguished only by payment to the operator or to the city. The transient shall pay the tax to the operator of the hotel at the time the rent is paid. If the rent is paid in installments, a proportionate share of the tax shall be paid with each installment. The unpaid tax shall be due upon the transient's ceasing to occupy space or rent space for potential occupancy in the hotel. If for any reason the tax due is not paid to the operator of the hotel, the tax administrator may require that such tax shall be paid directly to the tax administrator." Section 2: If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Ordinance.