The city of San Diego is going to raise hotel room taxes in May. The money was supposed to fund an expansion to the Convention Center, but that isn't happening anymore.
Anyone staying in a hotel in San Diego will soon see a higher tax on their bills.
The tax ranges depending on how close to downtown you are, from 11.75% to 13.75%. So for example, if you’re staying in a downtown hotel and your room costs $250 a night, you’d see an extra $34 a night on your bill.
Why this happened
This is all because in March 2020, voters supported Measure C by a wide margin.
You’re excused if you don’t remember that very well. A couple of weeks later, everything changed when we shut the economy down to try to stop the spread of COVID-19.
So here’s a refresher: Measure C asked voters to support a higher hotel-room tax and promised the money would go to a long-desired expansion of the Convention Center. But also to fund services for homeless residents and road repair.
More than 65% of voters supported it.
But it did not pass. Except that it did pass. Hold on, we’ll explain.
In California, local governments need support from two-thirds of voters to pass a special tax. That means 67% of voters need to support a tax that will fund something specifically. If a government just wants to pass a tax for its general needs, it only needs more than 50%.
But then that all changed. Courts ruled that any citizens initiative can pass with 50% of the vote.
So you might think that would apply to Measure C. But the city attorney in 2020 said it needed two thirds of the vote and it has been tied up in the courts for years.
What's happening now
Now, the city says enough courts have weighed in. It will start collecting the higher hotel room tax in May.
There’s just one problem. Remember, this money was supposed to go toward expanding the Convention Center. Now the city says it can no longer afford that expansion.
Hotels poured millions into getting Measure C passed, but now they will have to be OK with 59% of the money collected going to "finance Convention Center improvements and otherwise support Convention Center operations. "
The rest of the money will fund homeless services. However the city is going to keep it in a bank account until one last court battle is resolved.
