RES 94042 - Laserfiche WebLink

Sales Tax As mentioned earlier, staff will not receive dollar figures from the State regarding the Christmas sales tax quarter until late in March. Thus Midyear amendments are based on staffs best estimate at this time. Although the City's contract sales tax auditor is projecting annual sales tax to be $675,000 less than originally projected, staff is recommending that the projections only be reduced by $300,000 until more information is known. This is a very difficult revenue to project because information is so late in coming from the State, and because so many adjustments (often material) are made as a result of cities disputing sales tax allocations. Pleasanton's decrease in the first quarter sales tax is largely a result of reallocations, most of which staff knew were pending and had already deducted from the projections. These include a State change in "point of sale" for a major computer operator that was previously reporting its entire California sales tax to the City, relocation of an electronic pans center and an educational computer sales office to other communities, and a negative accounting adjustment for a major medical supplier. Appendix H (page 93) contains a sales tax update for the fgst quarter of the fiscal year. Second quarter information is not yet available. With the next quarterly financial report, staff will analyze the sales tax data in more depth, and recommend further changes, if necessary. The City will receive about $207,000 from Proposition 172 PUblic Safety Sales Tax. This amount is reflected as a revenue source in the Police Department. Hotel/Motel Tax The City assesses a transient occupancy tax of 8 % on all dwellings occupied less than 30 days. There are 1,300 hotel/motel rooms in the City. For the last five years, HoteYMotel tax revenues were static. During that time period, no additional hotel rooms were added in the City, but new hotels in surrounding communities opened, heightening competition. However, for 1993-94, staff projected revenues to be $1,710,000, or 4% higher than in 1992-93. The increased projection assumed some combination of room rate increases, additional occupancy based on efforts of the Convention and Visitor's Bureau, and better tax retrieval due to staffs hotel audits. Revenue for the first two quarters is $878,000, including about $30,000 that resulted from City staff audits. Staff is recommending an increase in the revenue projections by $50,000, to $1,760,000. Staff will review this revenue again in the third quarter financial report to the Council. Business License Tax Staff is currently in the process of renewing business licenses, so it is too soon to know the actual revenue generated. Staff is finding that many businesses have closed, downsized, or had considerably less gross receipts than in the prior years. On the other hand, new businesses have opened, some are doing better than last year, and staff continues to actively enforce this revenue source. Based on collections through January totalling $623,000, staff is recommending at this time that the revenue projection for business license taxes be increased by $50,000, from $950,000 to $1 million. This revenue will also be reviewed again in the third quarter. SR 94:100 3