Council Votes to Write Hotel Tax Hike Law

The Agoura Hills City Council approved by a vote of 3 to 2 the writing of an ordinance to raise the Transient Occupancy Tax in two phases from the current 8% to 10% immediately, and to 12% in July 1998, city officials said Thursday.

After a lengthy discussion at its Wednesday night meeting, the council agreed to slowly increase the amount of bed tax that hotel guests pay to the city. Voters gave the council permission in November to set the tax at no higher than 12%, said City Clerk Pat Manning.

The council will discuss the ordinance twice in March, and it would go into effect within 30 days of final approval, she said.

Mayor Fran Pavley said the move to increase the tax gradually rather than all at once will allow the Radisson Hotel, which hasn’t had a change since 1985, to adjust slowly to a Transient Occupancy Tax that would be similar to that of its neighbors. “Instead of an abrupt change, the hotel can plan around it,” Pavley said.

The general manager of the Radisson, the only hotel within the city limits, could not be reached for comment Thursday, but Pavley said he attended the meeting to hear the council’s discussion.

“The biggest argument for this is that [travelers] use all of the service provided by the city--the roads, sometimes the parks, the sheriff protection certainly,” she said. “This is one way for them to pay their fair share of the costs we incur from their visiting.”

Pavley said that she, Councilman Dan Kuperberg and Councilwoman Louise Rishoff voted to write the ordinance as it was approved, but Councilman Ed Corridori wanted to increase the tax only to 10%, while Councilman Denis Weber wanted it to remain at 8%.