Sanger Measure B Would Triple Hotel Tax to 12%, Raising $55,037 Annually
Sanger voters will decide November 5 whether to triple the city’s hotel tax from 4% to 12%. Measure B applies to stays of 30 days or less at hotels, motels, short-term rentals, vacation rentals, home-sharing units, apartments, accessory dwelling units, campgrounds, and RV spaces.
The Sanger City Council voted 4-1 on August 6 to place the measure on the ballot. Council member Esmeralda Hurtado cast the lone dissenting vote, according to Mid Valley Times.
The tax is paid by guests, not lodging operators. It applies to the total rent charged, including mandatory cleaning, resort, linen, utility, and operator booking fees. It excludes refundable security deposits, separately stated government taxes, certain online-platform service fees, and certain food and beverage charges.
Revenue would go into the city’s general fund for any lawful municipal purpose. The tax would continue until ended by voters.
The Breakdown
- Current rate: 4% on hotel and motel stays of 30 days or less
- Proposed rate: 12%, expanded to include short-term rentals, vacation rentals, home-sharing units, apartments, ADUs, campgrounds, and RV spaces
- Projected revenue: approximately $55,037 annually
- Use: deposited in the city’s general fund for general city services
- Duration: until ended by voters
- Collection: lodging operators and online platforms must register with the city, collect the tax from guests, and remit it to the city
- The tax does not legalize short-term rentals prohibited by zoning or other city laws
- The City Council could amend the ordinance for administrative or legal-compliance purposes without voter approval, but could not increase the rate or expand coverage without voter approval
What This Means for You
Measure B is a general tax — its revenue can be used for any city purpose, not a specific program. Whether to approve it is your decision on the November 5 ballot.
The tax falls primarily on visitors, since it applies to stays of 30 days or less. Sanger residents who stay in local hotels or short-term rentals for less than a month would pay it. Housing-insecure residents who rely on interim lodging would also pay the increased rate.
What You Can Do
Vote on Measure B on or before November 5, 2024. Contact the Sanger City Clerk at 559-876-6300 or visit sangerca.portal.civicclerk.com for a copy of the full ordinance text.
Who Supports It, Who Opposes It
- Supporters, according to Mid Valley Times, say Measure B would boost city revenue without raising taxes on most permanent residents, since the tax largely falls on visitors.
- Opponents, according to Mid Valley Times and the official argument against the measure, say the tax could negatively affect local hotel owners and housing-insecure Sanger residents who rely on interim lodging. The official argument states the tax “would stay in place FOREVER” and “once a tax is in place voters seldom vote to remove it.”
What to Watch
The material projects $55,037 in annual revenue — a figure that appears low for a tax tripling from 4% to 12%. That implies total taxable hotel and short-term-rental revenue in Sanger of roughly $688,000 per year, or about $1,885 per day across the entire city.
The material does not state what share of current lodging revenue comes from hotels versus short-term rentals, or how much additional revenue the expanded coverage is expected to capture. A revenue estimate that treats a rate tripling and a coverage expansion as producing only $55,037 in new annual revenue raises the question of whether the city’s current lodging tax is being fully collected, or whether the projected figure reflects expected noncompliance or avoidance under the new rate.
The measure deposits revenue into the general fund for “any lawful municipal purpose,” with no restriction. The material names no specific program, service, or budget gap the revenue would address.
A voter weighing this measure has no way to know whether the $55,037 offsets a city budget shortfall, funds a new service, or simply allows spending elsewhere — and no way to hold the City Council accountable for how it is used, since general-fund revenue requires no separate approval or reporting once collected.
Opponents state the tax “will collect about $55,037 every year on visitors and residents of Sanger,” naming housing-insecure residents who rely on interim lodging as a specific burdened group. The city attorney’s analysis states the tax is “generally not paid by Sanger residents,” but the ordinance itself applies to any guest staying 30 days or less, regardless of residency.
The material provides no breakdown of how much of the projected $55,037 would come from Sanger residents versus visitors. A tax that falls on housing-insecure residents — people staying in motels because they lack stable housing — functions differently than one that falls only on tourists, and a voter deciding whether to approve it should know which it is.
Sanger currently has a 4% transient occupancy tax. If the city collected the existing 4% tax on $688,000 in annual lodging revenue, that would have produced roughly $27,500 per year under the old rate.
Tripling the rate to 12% and expanding coverage to short-term rentals should produce significantly more than $55,037 unless the city expects most of the new category to go uncollected or unless current lodging activity is far lower than the expansion would suggest. The material does not explain the basis for the projection or whether it reflects expected compliance, enforcement capacity, or evasion.
