Mountain View council expected to ask voters to raise tax on hotel guests

BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer

Mountain View City Council is looking to raise the city’s hotel tax on a crowded November ballot.

Council tomorrow will consider a measure to raise the hotel tax from 10% to 15%, bringing in an estimated $5.2 million per year from 19 hotels. The revenue could go anywhere in the city budget.

For comparison, hotel taxes in Palo Alto and Menlo Park are 15.5%, and Sunnyvale’s hotel tax is 12.5%.

Competitiveness

“The proposed increase would maintain Mountain View’s competitiveness within the regional lodging market,” Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews said in a report for council.

The city last raised its hotel tax in 1991. The tax revenue went from $8 million in 2023 to $11 million this year, Andrews said.

Some guests would be exempt

Hotel stays by government employees on official business are exempt from the tax, Andrews said. However, Mountain View residents wouldn’t get a break — they’d have to pay the full tax.

The tax would go alongside a measure for a half-cent sales tax to bail out struggling Bay Area transit agencies, like BART and Caltrain.

Other cities are going to voters to ask for a tax increase.

The city of Palo Alto is asking voters to pass a half-cent sales tax to renovate the Cubberley Community Center, and Palo Alto school board members on Tuesday raised the possibly of trying again to renew a parcel tax. The city of San Carlos is discussing a sales tax for downtown renovations. The deadline to place a measure on the ballot is Aug. 7.