Surging tourism boosts Bend’s room-tax coffers

Thanks to surging tourism, the city of Bend has taken in $5.9 million in room tax collections over the past fiscal year, about $700,000 more than projected.

“It’s good news for everybody,” said Dough LaPlaca, CEO of Visit Bend, said Wednesday.

The added funds come in part from an increase in tourism, which upped demand and prices.

“We had a rocking tourism seasons last year,” said City Council member Sally Russell.

LaPlaca added, “The actual number of people visiting have far surpassed our projections.”

The other reason for the higher revenue is the increase in room tax that was passed by voters in 2013.

City officials were conservative in their original estimate on purpose.

“Last May, when we created this budget, no one knew what the economy would look like,” Russell said.

The city is required by law to spend 34 percent of the money on tourism promotion. Visit Bend has partnered with the city to attract more visitors, especially during the shoulder seasons.

Of the $700,000 increase in room-tax revenues, over half — $391,000 — goes to the tourism promotion fund, Russell said.

“For people who make their living off of the tourism, for all the small businesses in town who rely on the tourists to pay their staff and put food on the table, the marketing engine that’s created through the tourism promotion dollars is a critical piece of their business,” LaPlaca said.

Three percent of the budget goes directly to fire and police. Sixty-three percent goes to the city’s general fund.

“As a municipality, we have more money to use in areas that we truly need,” Russell said.

Some of the money has already been spent during the year on numerous improvement projects. Russell said that will help with staffing for police and fire, as well as improving roads.

The extra funds allow the city to finally catch up with projects that were long overdue since the recession hit.

For the next fiscal year, the city is anticipating $6.7 million in revenue from room taxes.