Measure B-20 Attorney's Impartial Analysis 2020-06-08City of Pismo Beach
City Clerk's Office
CITY OF PIS MO BE A CH JUN 1 6 2020
C ITY A T T OR N E Y 'S IMPARTI AL A NALYSIS FOR
M EAS U R E B-20 Received
If approved by th e vo ters , M easure B-20 , enti tl ed "T he P ismo Beach P u bli c Safety
a nd Community Serv ices P rotection Measure " wo uld amend section 3.20.030 of th e
Pismo Bea c h Muni cip al Co d e to incre a se th e Cit y 's trans ient o ccupancy tax ra t e fro m 10
pe rce nt to 11 pe rc ent.
T he t rans ie nt o ccupancy t ax , so me tim es kn own as a "ho tel tax ", is paid by visi tors a nd
ot he rs who stay for th irt y con sec utiv e days or les s in the City 's ho te ls , mo tels , va cat ion
re ntals and ot her s i m il ar lodg ing bus inesses . The lodg ing busines ses th e n fo rward th e
tax to the C ity . T he ta x is not imp o sed o n re sid en ts or prop e rty own e rs of the C ity
unl es s t hey stay in th e lo d ging bu sin e ss e s.
For example , if a hot e l charges $100 .00 per night for a hotel room , th e trans ie nt
occ upan cy ta x pa id by th e hot e l gu es t und e r th e c ur re nt ordinan ce wou ld be $10 .00 . If
the propos ed mea s u re is ap p roved , th e transi e nt o ccupan cy tax fo r th e sam e ho te l room
would be $11 .00 , or an incr e as e of $1 .00 pe r night .
T he reve nu es from th e in c rem;e d ta x imposed by t his measure wo u ld be depos it e d into
t he City 's Gene ra l Fund to be us ed for s uc h genera l muni cipal gove rn m enta l purpose s
as t he Ci ty Co unc il directs . Am o ng suc h purpos es are pol ic e and f irefighter se rvices ,
groun dwater and beach prot ec tion , e nhance d se nior se rv ic es a nd other es se nti a l City
se rv ice s . If ap p ro ve d , t he ad di tional tr an sien t o cc upanc y tax reve nu e coll e cted by t he
C ity is es ti mat e d to be $1 mi lli on per year .
This measure is a g e ne ral t ax ;-an d t here fore , th is me asure w ill o n ly become effec t ive if
approved by a "majo r ity of tho se e lec to rs voting o n the measure . T he transien t
occu pan cy ta x ca nnot be in creas e d aga in w ith ou t voter a pprova l. Th e tran sie nt
occ upa ncy ta x w as la st increase d in 199 2 .
A YES vote ap pro ves t he meas u re .
A NO vo te rejec ts t he meas ure .
T his measure was p lac ed on th e ballot by t he City Co u nc il of the City of Pismo Beach .
T he above sta te ment is an imparti al a naly si s of Measure B-20 . If you desire a
co py of the measure , please call t he elections offi c ial 's off ice at (8 0 5) 7 73 -7003
and a copy will be m ai led at no cost to you.
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Dav id Fl eis h man
City Attorn ey , Ci ty of P is mo Beach
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