Bed tax revenues on rise

Revenues from Manatee County’s resort tax increased 1.2 percent in February compared with the same month last year.

That’s good news for accommodation managers and rental agents who say it’s a sure sign that visitor arrivals to the area in February were ahead of last year’s pace.

The Manatee County Tax Collector’s office reported $857,082 in collections for February 2011, compared with $847,600 for the same month in 2010.

While the $9,482 increase might seem modest to some, it’s not for real estate agent Jason Sato of Sato Real Estate in Anna Maria.

“Remember, many room rates this year are lower than last year,” he said. “I think the increase shows February tourism was great.”

In addition, Sato said a number of families were booked into large houses in February. The rental price for a home is generally the same whether there are six people or 16 people in the group, he observed.

Other rental agents agree that more than one family often combines to rent a larger property.

And bed tax revenues are not actual “heads in beds,” said Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce president Mary Ann Brockman.

“We won’t know the actual number of visitors until the report comes out, but any increase in resort tax is a good sign for the industry that tourism increased that month,” she said.

Brockman predicted visitor arrivals in February 2011 would be a bit higher than February 2010, while March tourism figures would be “well above” the same month last year.

The February bed-tax increase was good news when compared with January 2011 collections, which were down 2.6 percent when compared with January 2010.

Debbie Meihls of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau said the February tourism report would be posted within the next few days. Research Data Services Inc. now prepares the monthly reports. The company also provides a quarterly tourism report to the BACVB.

The three Island cities collected $361,582 in February 2011, 42.2 percent of total collections. Holmes Beach led all county municipalities in bed-tax collections with $228,274, while Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach combined for $133,308. Longboat Key added $140,072 to the county’s February bed-tax revenues.

Collectively, Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key brought in $501,654 in bed tax collections, 58.3 percent of the February total.

The Manatee County Commission increased the bed tax from 4 percent to 5 percent in June 2009, with some of the additional 1 percent revenue going toward expenses incurred by tourist information centers, such as the AMI chamber. The bed tax applies only to room and vacation rentals for periods less than six months.

The 5 percent resort tax is in addition to the county’s 6.5 percent sales tax. Revenues from the resort tax are used to fund the BACVB and for county beach renourishment projects.