BAKER CITY — The tax that guests pay at most Baker County motels, vacation rentals and other lodging businesses is on pace to set a record for the fourth straight fiscal year.

The transient lodging tax pays to market the county to tourists, with a goal of attracting visitors who themselves pay the tax.

Baker County commissioners, who administer the tax under a 2006 ordinance, have used tax revenue for the past two years to help replace the irrigation system at the Baker City-owned Quail Ridge Golf Course, contribute toward new restrooms at the city’s Geiser-Pollman Park and award grants of up to $8,000 to a couple dozen businesses.

After a slight drop during the 2019-20 fiscal year, due to the pandemic, lodging tax revenue has more than doubled.

The fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.

From 2006-19, annual revenue ranged from $385,000 to $576,000, with an average of $439,000.

Tax collections dipped to $408,000 in the 2019-20 fiscal year. In April 2020, the height of restrictions due to the pandemic, revenue plummeted to $8,360, the lowest total for any month on record.

Collections for the 2020-21 fiscal year totaled $538,000. That was the third-highest yearly total since the city-county agreement was signed in 2006.

Revenue in fiscal 2021-22 jumped by 33%, to a then-record $715,000.

As the pandemic waned, revenue continued to rise, with a 20% increase, to $860,000, in fiscal 2022-23.

The trajectory flattened a bit in the 2023-24 fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2024, but tax revenue rose by 11%, to a new record of $954,000. Monthly revenue topped $100,000 in June, July, August and September 2023, including an all-time record of $130,404 in July. Prior to that fiscal year, tax revenue exceeded $100,000 in only one month, July 2022.

Revenue for the first quarter of the current fiscal year — July, August and September 2024 — was up 6.7% from the previous year, putting this fiscal year on pace to set another record.

Despite major wildfires burning in and around the county starting the second week of July, lodging taxes for that month reached an all-time record of $133,889 — 2.7% higher than July 2023. The previous monthly record, set in June 2023, was $130,620.

Tyler Brown, chairman of the county’s lodging tax committee, said he was somewhat surprised by the “solid numbers” for the first quarter of the fiscal year. Brown, who owns Barley Brown’s Brew Pub and Tap House in Baker City, said business was down a bit while the fires were at their peak.

“We were not seeing the normal traffic,” he said.

Brown noted, however, that although fires and cloying smoke can discourage tourists, motels can offset their decline in tourism by renting rooms to firefighters.

The influx of firefighters isn’t as likely to benefit restaurants and other businesses, however, since state and federal agencies typically hire caterers and other support staff, Brown said.

Despite the temporary decline in business during the fires, Brown said his company’s revenue for calendar year 2024 was almost identical to 2023.

What’s driving the rise in lodging tax revenue?

Brown said that although he believes the rising trend in revenue reflects a healthy tourism economy in the county, other factors likely are also contributing.

Inflation, for instance.

With the cost of running businesses, including motels, increasing over the past several years, the price for a motel room has gone up, Brown said.

Because the lodging tax is a percentage of the rental rate, the revenue could potentially increase even if the number of visitors doesn’t change, Brown pointed out. A room that rents for $200 would generate a higher tax payment from the guest than a $150 room.

Still and all, Brown said the recent trend in lodging tax revenue is “definitely better than the alternative.”

“I think we’ve got some positive stuff going on,” he said.

Brown said the lodging tax committee, when it starts reviewing a budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1, will need to look at certain areas, such as advertising, where it can potentially spend more money given the rising revenue.

Tracking tourism

Brown said lodging tax revenue is an important measurement of tourism in the county, but hardly a definitive statistic.

As mentioned, tax collections can rise due to higher rental rates, so an increase in tax revenue doesn’t necessarily reflect more visitors.

To that end, the county commissioners in January approved a one-year contract with Datafy, a Utah firm.

The company collects cellphone data to help tourism officials track where visitors live, and how long they spend at local destinations and events.

Brown said he’s interested to see what the Datafy reports show about who’s coming to Baker County, where they go and how long they stay.

Jessica Hobson, the county’s tourism marketing director who works under a $70,000-per-year contract paid for with lodging tax revenue, will be overseeing the Datafy contract.

Baker County lodging tax revenue

July-September

2024: $362,990 (up 6.7%)

2023: $340,242

July

2024: $133,889 (all-time record, any month; previous record June 2023, $130,620)

2023: $130,404

August

2024: $122,135 (all-time record for August; previous record 2023)

2023: $107,662

September

2024: $106,966 (all-time record for September; previous record 2023)

2023: $102,176

“I think we’ve got some positive stuff going on.”

{p style=”text-align: right;”}— Tyler Brown, chairman, Baker County transient lodging tax committee