Hotel Room Tax Collections Rising

ORLANDO-The 5% tax on Orange County’s estimated 100,000 hotel and motel rooms for January reached $7.7 million, up 9% from January 2001 and also up from December’s $6.6 million total. But Orange County Comptroller Martha O. Haynie cautions against unchecked optimism.

Cumulative collections through January of the county’s fiscal year that began Oct. 1 totaled $30 million, up 14.2% from last year at this time and near the budgeted amount of $30.1 million.

“It is important to remember, however, that this time last year, cumulative collections were nearly 25% below the previous year [2001],” Haynie says.