Monterey Considering Hotel-Motel Tax

The town of Monterey wants to implement a hotel-motel tax next year.

Mayor Bill Wiggins said current lodging taxes go directly to Putnam County.

“This is one of those myths, I’d always understood that, other than the metropolitan areas, that money was going to go to the counties,” Wiggins said. “I never really thought about it until I learned that Cookeville had sought a private act to redirect some of that hotel-motel tax money to the City of Cookeville.”

Wiggins said a private act would allow Monterey to collect taxes from the Bethel Inn, local campgrounds, and short-term rental properties.

“I know we just have the Bethel Inn right now, but if you look ahead, we may have more and we hope we have more,” Wiggins said.

Wiggins said state lawmakers would need to approve the private act during the next legislative session.

“I’m recommending that we get our city attorney to draft us the necessary paper work so we can apply to receive the hotel-motel tax in Monterey,” Wiggins said. “We’ll talk about how much when we present this.”

Governor Bill Lee recently signed a bill, allowing Cookeville to implement a 3-percent hotel-motel tax.