Worcester Co. room tax increasing to 5 percent in 2020

WORCESTER CO., Md. – Worcester County Commissioners approved an increase in room tax, on Tuesday. This means starting January 1st anyone staying at a hotel, motel or AirBnB will pay a 5 percent room tax. That’s an increase from the current 4.5 percent.

For example, a vistor currently will pay about $9 in room tax if a night at a hotel costs $200. That would increase to about $10 if that same room is rented in 2020. While many people in the hospitality industry seem in favor of this increase, some locals tell 47 ABC they don’t agree with the change.

“I’d like to see us return to what we are which is a resort. We’re not a city,” says Tony Christ, an Ocean City business owner and long time visitor.

Residents are reacting after Worcester County Commissioners unanimously approved a half percent increase for room tax. Supporters say the tax will allow Ocean City to compete with nearby vacation spots like Myrtle Beach and Atlantic City.

“We do support it and we feel that it’s going to be used to foster tourism and to continue to help bring visitors to ocean city,” says Susan Jones, the executive director for the Hotel Motel Restaurant Association (HMRA) in Ocean City.

They also say they’re happy to see the legislation updated to include situations like AirBnB because room taxes haven’t changed since 2007.

“We’re not against someone renting out their house. Not at all. We just want them to be on the same playing field,” says Jones.

But those against the hike tell 47 ABC that an increase in room taxes will only make Ocean City less affordable. “We’re trying to make Ocean City something it’s not and we’ve lost the middle class. The lunch pale people because the government has grown so much, it’s raised the prices so high they can’t afford to come,” says Christ.

Right now, Ocean City’s room tax revenue goes towards the town’s advertising. “If a visitor is paying that, that’s just going back into the advertising fund so taxpayers should not be concerned about that at all,” says Jones.

But some residents say that revenue should go towards offsetting other costs. “What it’s done is now created a situation where now there are added shoulder season expenses that they’re having to come back and figure out how they’re going to pay for because everything is going into advertising,” says Vince Gisriel Jr., an Ocean City resident.

Regardless of where someone stands on the issue, one thing is clear, it will get more expensive to stay in Worcester County come January 1st whether that’s in Berlin or Ocean City. While this impacts the entire county, Ocean City has been pushing for this room tax increase since before the start of the year. Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan expects the tax to generate $1.7 million dollars more in revenue each year.