The following letter was sent to Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf and Sen. Ernie Lopez, with a copy submitted to the Cape Gazette for publication.
Last September, our mayor and commissioners unanimously approved an amendment to the city charter to impose a lodging tax up to 3 percent on hotel and motel rentals. We are writing to support their decision. It is our understanding that this amendment still has not been introduced in the General Assembly.
The Rehoboth Beach Homeowners’ Association represents over 500 property owners in the city, and about 200 of them are full-time residents in your district. Part of our mission is to foster the spirit of community, and in that vein, we hope that hotel owners would agree that we all benefit from a clean and healthy environment, and that there are large costs involved in maintaining water quality and other critical services and infrastructure.
As it is now, hotels in Rehoboth Beach contribute very little toward these costs. There is a hotel building boom in the City of Rehoboth Beach! Three new hotels have been proposed this year. They will add an additional 230 rooms to the approximately 1,150 that currently exist in the city. More people staying in hotels in the city will only increase the burden on our infrastructure and the services that the city provides to our visitors.
Consider these factors:
• Residential rental houses have a 6 percent lodging tax and contribute more than $2 million a year to the city revenue stream. In addition, residential rental landlords often buy parking passes for their guests.
• Hotels rarely purchase parking passes or pay any other parking fees. City-wide, parking fees contribute approximately $5.7 million a year to the city revenue stream. Hotels have their own parking lots and garages, and guests pay nothing to the city for that parking.
• We spend approximately $200,000 a year to maintain the Boardwalk. Hotel guests contribute nothing to that upkeep.
• We spend over $1 million a year in garbage collection, much of it on and near the Boardwalk. Most of that money is paid from residential refuse fees from homeowners. Hotels pay nothing.
• We pay $650,000 a year for beach patrol services. Hotel guests are big users of the beach, just as they are big users of the Boardwalk.
Residents, visitors in rental homes, and anyone using parking meters in the city are the ones paying the bills for all this upkeep. It’s time for hotel guests to pay their fair share. We believe they would agree and that visitors to Rehoboth will not object to this small tax.
Other resort towns already charge a hotel tax, and most cities and towns around the country do so, often at much higher rates! Guests are accustomed to them. Nearby tax rates are: Ocean City, Md. - 4.5 percent; Bethany - 3.25 percent; Milton - 3 percent.
Furthermore, we have just learned that a bill allowing Georgetown to enact a hotel tax up to 3 percent was passed unanimously in the Senate last week. We urge you to introduce the bill for Rehoboth Beach to have the same right, and to do so in time to be approved by the General Assembly before the 2019 session ends on June 30, so that it can be enacted Jan. 1, 2020.
The state’s tourism industry depends heavily on our ability to fund infrastructure maintenance and assure water quality, and all who use the city share in that responsibility.
Rehoboth Beach Homeowners’ Association Board of Directors
Charlie Browne
president
Susan Gay
vice president
LeRoy Candelaria
secretary
Steve Curson
treasurer
Jon Worthington
Mark Saunders
Pam Baker
Bob Lawrence
Elise Burns
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