Arlington will have to find another way to fund its tourism promotion efforts.
A bill that would have renewed Arlington’s 0.25 percent hotel tax surcharge failed in the Virginia House of Delegates yesterday. The bill, which was approved by the state Senate, did not get the necessary two-thirds vote to pass.
An earlier House version of the bill failed to get out of committee after it was blocked by Del. Tim Hugo. The Fairfax County Republican cited Arlington’s lawsuit against high occupancy toll lanes on I-395 as his reason for blocking the bill.
We’re awaiting word from the county on how they plan to make up for the loss of nearly $1 million in revenue. Arlington funds its Convention and Visitors Service largely through the revenue generated by the surcharge, which will expire at the end of the year.
Update at 5:15 p.m. — “I’m disappointed that it failed to pass,” said Arlington’s Del. Bob Brink (D), on the phone from Richmond. “[The surcharge] is beneficial to Arlington’s business community as they try to compete against the District and Maryland for tourism and tourism dollars.”