Starting this fall, visitors to Windsor will soon have to dig a tad deeper into their wallets.
Windsor City Council approved a motion Monday night to impose a 4% accommodation tax for those staying in the city's hotels and motels.
Ward 3 Councillor Rino Bortolin was the only "no" vote on the proposal. Ward 8's Bill Marra was absent.
The tax would apply to continuous stays of 30 days or less, and it will take effect on October 1. Roughly, the additional cost for a $100/night room would be $4 per night.
Under the structure approved by council, Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island (TWEPI) will receive half the total net revenue received for the year, according to provincial regulations pertaining to tourism development and promotion. The other half of the net revenue will go into a fund set up by the city to support ideas in tourism development.
Mayor Drew Dilkens tells BlackburnNewsWindsor.com that the tax brings Windsor in line with other cities catering to tourists, such as Toronto, Niagara Falls, and Ottawa.
"You see it happening all across Ontario, all across Canada, all across the United States, and frankly around the world," says Dilkens. "I think it's a reasonable tax. It's not a tax on local residents, it's a tax on visitors."
Some hotel operators in the city are not totally accepting of the plan, however, and some spoke out against it to council. Larry Horwitz of the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association (DWBIA) says most of the downtown hoteliers are unhappy with the financial set-up of the plan, but aren't against the tax itself.
"They don't feel that their concerns were addressed tonight," says Horwitz. "They're concerned that this could hurt tourism because we're competing with Niagara Falls and Toronto and places like that. Now we have 13% H.S.T. and a 4% tax on top of that."
Revenue from the tax is estimated to be at $2.8-million a year.