Proposal Could Bring Millions of Dollars To Santa Barbara County

This week, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will take the first step to collect more money brought in by tourism. The county could see a huge increase in it’s tax revenue. In fact, it could boost county coffers by tens of millions of dollars. It’s called the Hotel Incentive Program which would allow hotel companies to restore, or build in unincorporated areas of Santa Barbara County .In exchange, the county gets a portion of hotel, sales and property tax. Supervisor Salud Carbajal says the tax revenue would be a huge boost for our area. Carbajal says, this ordinance could bring in an estimated 130 million dollars per year. The revenue would go towards county funded programs like social services, mental health, county fire and sheriff departments.The Miramar Hotel, which has been called an eyesore in recent years could benefit from this program. Hotels that enroll would be required to hire local workers. The board of supervisors will take up this issue at Tuesday’s meeting.KEY News Reporter Hannah Anderson has details.