Only guests staying at hotels in Taylor County will pay this tax. This is not a property tax or bond. This will not raise taxes on Taylor County residents.
No. This is a renewal of a tax on visitors to hotels that has been in place since 2004.
Yes. Many of the cities Taylor County residents visit throughout Texas also have a hotel occupancy tax. These include Dallas, Galveston, Houston, Lubbock, Austin, Wichita Falls, San Antonio, and Fort Worth. So, we all pay this tax when we travel and stay in hotels in these cities.
The 2% “Tourism Venues” hotel occupancy tax can only be used to support specific types of tourism venues as stated in Texas law and approved by the Comptroller of the State of Texas. It cannot be used for other general purposes such as street repairs, police, etc.
For this referendum, the venues are the Taylor County Expo Center and Frontier Texas! These organizations were chosen by the Abilene City Council and The Taylor County Commissioners Court. They are approved by the State Comptroller of Texas.
Many concerned residents throughout Abilene and Taylor County are supporting this effort through their leadership, donations and future voting. The Grow Abilene and Taylor County PAC is a non-partisan political action committee dedicated to advancing the growth of the tourism industry in Abilene and Taylor County.
The PAC is made of concerned citizens including:
- Shea Hall serving as PAC Co-Chair
- Nanci Liles serving as PAC Co-Chair
- Cade Browning serving as PAC Treasurer, Board President of Taylor County Expo
- Derek Hood, Board President of Frontier Texas!
- Rochelle Johnson, General Manager of Taylor County Expo
- Jeff Salmon, Executive Director of Frontier Texas!