Decatur City Council votes to increase lodging tax

DECATUR, Ala. (WAFF) - Families looking to take a trip this spring to the River city will need to budget a little extra for a place to stay. City leaders voted to increase the current lodging tax from 7% to 10% during Monday morning’s city council meeting.

The increase will only apply to hotels within Decatur city limits.

”We hear often about new things that they like to see in town,” said District 2 councilman Kyle Pike who proposed the ordinance, “This is an additional revenue source for us to be able to accomplish those types of projects.”

The expected increase is expected to generate an additional $930,000 in revenue annually. 64% will go to the Tourism Department and the remaining money will remain in the city.

Councilman Pike said Decatur continues to see rapid growth, and he believes now is the best time to implement this tax increase.

The money will be used to make improvements to parks around the city. This includes fixing roads, adding new biking and walking paths, and adding new splash pads to Point Mallard water park.

“This council’s been very aggressive in a lot of our policies and going after projects,” said Councilman Pike, “And in order to spur growth, we know that it’s also something that’s gotta be city-led.

President of Decatur Downtown Redevelopment Authority Kelly Thomas said the city is working to add a new park between Grant and Johnson Street parallel to 2nd Avenue.

“We don’t want our downtown to become a concrete jungle with just total development. So we love to preserve our green spaces downtown,” said Thomas, “The amount of people that will spend money and support this tax from outside of the city is huge and they’re going to be giving us funds that we can use for the citizens of Decatur.”

The tax increase will go into effect on April 1st.

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