Lane County drops plan to use hotel tax for sheriff funding
Lane County backed away from using hotel taxes for the sheriff, shifting rural patrol funding to reserves for one year and reopening a fight over tourism dollars.
Lane County commissioners abandoned a plan to tap hotel tax revenue for sheriff staffing when they approved the county’s final budget on June 23, choosing instead to keep rural patrols running for one more year with financial reserves.
The reversal ended a budget fight that had centered on whether transient lodging tax dollars, money collected from visitors staying in local hotels and motels, should help support public safety. The earlier proposal would have used $4.8 million in TLT reserves to keep 10 sheriff’s deputies in place, including two resident deputies, six general patrol deputies and two detectives, while also setting aside $1.7 million for courthouse planning and design work. County staff estimated the courthouse work would cost about $9 million overall.
Commissioners backed away after pushback from the Lane County tourism industry, which warned that moving hotel-tax money away from tourism-related uses could weaken an indoor sports facility plan and undercut winter hotel stays. The county’s unallocated TLT reserves stood at about $11.3 million after commissioners raised the tax in 2022 for an unspecified future purpose.
The final budget instead relied on reserves to fund rural sheriff patrols for only one year. County staff said the sheriff’s office could also have been funded from general-fund reserves or road-maintenance dollars, but recommended against both options.
Lane County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky said reserves should stay above 20% of annual general-fund operations to protect the county’s credit rating. Public Works Director Dan Hurley warned that road dollars were already under strain and should not be diverted.
The budget fight unfolded after the Oregon Legislative Assembly changed state law this year through House Bill 4148, giving counties and cities more flexibility over transient lodging tax revenue. The law shifted the allowable split for some local TLT money from 70% for tourism-related uses and 30% for general government services to a 50-50 split, and it also created new biennial reporting requirements beginning in 2027.
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