SOLANA BEACH — The City Council has agreed to place a ballot measure before voters in November that would increase the city’s current transient occupancy tax rate by an additional 1% to generate more revenue for city services.
Solana Beach’s TOT, also known as the hotel tax, has been set at 13% since 2006. It is assessed on visitors staying in hotels, motels, and short-term vacation rentals in the city for less than 30 days, and is collected by the hosts and paid to the city.
The hotel tax generates around $1.5 million in annual revenue for the city. The majority of the revenue goes to the General Fund, and the rest is split between business assistance funding, sand replenishment and coastal access.
These revenues have funded various city services in the past, including beach nourishment, street and sewer repairs, trash cleanup at beaches and parks, keeping public bathrooms clean, landscaping and tree maintenance in public areas, adding a new ramp, railing, and showers at the base of Fletcher Cove, and the planned new lifeguard facility and safety equipment.
Council members — with the exception of Jill MacDonald, who was absent — unanimously approved the ballot measure on July 15. They also received the results of surveys asking residents about their quality of life, top city service priorities, and their reception to a potential hotel tax increase.
“I am supportive of putting this on the ballot and seeing what the folks in our community think about this,” said Mayor Lesa Heebner.
The 1% increase is expected to increase TOT revenue by around $250,000 annually.
City Manager Alyssa Muto said while the city is in a good financial position, ongoing uncertainty around federal funding highlights the need for more reliable local revenues. City services also need to keep up with the growing number of visitors to the city’s beaches, officials said. 
“To promote the visitor-serving businesses and to manage the city resources, we really need to work to maintain that local funding stream that we rely on year over year,” Muto said.
Community survey results indicate that the tax increase has a good chance of passing. In a city survey of Solana Beach residents conducted earlier this year, 71% of respondents said they would support the increase.
In the survey, 95.7% of residents rated their quality of life as “good” to “excellent,” and 85.7% said they were satisfied with city services.
Respondents also identified the following top five city service priorities — keeping trash out of lagoons, waterways and beaches; keeping parks, beaches and trails clean, safe and well-maintained; keeping public restrooms well-maintained and clean; maintaining lifeguards at local beaches, and upgrading coastal lifesaving emergency medical equipment and technology.
The city received letters of support for the hotel tax increase from the Solana Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Courtyard by Marriott, a hotel along South Coast Highway 101.
Barry Lall, owner of the Courtyard by Marriott, said that while the increase would raise costs for hotel guests, it would ultimately provide more funding for services that benefit visitors.
“A modest, visitor-supported revenue source will strengthen the City’s financial position and its ability to weather economic uncertainty, without placing that burden on residents,” Lall said.
John Steele, president of the Surfsong Homeowners Association that represents the condo owners along South Helix Avenue, also offered strong support. Many of the condos are rented out as vacation rentals during the year.
“The City of Solana Beach has earned the trust of everybody up and down the block. You have been great stewards of the money we gave you in the past, and there’s no reason to expect you won’t be great stewards of the 1% more we’re about to give you,” Steele said.
The measure will appear on the Nov. 3 General Election ballot.
