Disneyland and Honda Heart face 2% gate tax underneath Anaheim poll proposal

The Anaheim Metropolis Council will contemplate Tuesday asking voters to impose a 2% gate tax on guests to Disneyland and the Honda Heart to generate further revenues to pay for added workers and new metropolis facilities.

If the council agrees to place the measure on the Nov. 8 poll and a majority of voters approve it, the gate tax might generate $55 million to $82 million a yr to be deposited within the metropolis common fund account, in response to a metropolis report.

The proposal was made final month by Metropolis Councilman Jose Moreno, who mentioned he hoped the gate tax cash would bolster a metropolis finances that he mentioned has been stretched skinny. Moreno, who’s serving his final yr on the council, has been a vocal critic of tax breaks for Disneyland.

“Given how a lot we’ve got struggled … simply to assist our seniors, we actually want revenues,” he mentioned when proposing the gate tax final month. “For a metropolis of our measurement, we want extra income.”

A Disneyland spokesperson declined to touch upon the proposal. A consultant for the Honda Heart, dwelling of the Anaheim Geese, couldn’t be reached for remark Monday.

The proposal is written to additionally impose a gate tax on guests of Angel Stadium, however underneath town’s lease settlement with the Angels, town can be required to credit score the Angels towards its lease settlement for any “levies or assesses any ticket, admission, parking or different tax or charge based mostly upon revenues derived from operations on the Baseball Stadium or Parking Space, or Staff revenues.” In brief, the lease settlement would make sure that a gate tax gained’t increase town’s coffers.

Getting the council to conform to put the measure on the poll might be a problem. Below metropolis guidelines, the measure requires the help of 5 of the seven council members to go. However the variety of council members dropped from seven to 6 in Could when Mayor Harry Sidhu stepped down after being accused of bribery, fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering. Which means the measure wants 5 of the six remaining council members.

Mayor Professional Tem Trevor O’Neil has already voiced opposition to the proposal. “Growing the already excessive tax burden on guests runs the danger of negatively impacting tourism and the ensuing financial affect for our metropolis,” he mentioned in an announcement Monday. “And, this proposal wouldn’t solely apply to guests however to our personal residents as effectively who benefit from the many leisure choices in our metropolis.”

A day by day ticket to Disneyland ranges from $104 to $164, relying on the day of the week, with a 2% gate tax including $2.08 to $3.28 per ticket.

The proposal comes as town’s major income sources — gross sales taxes and occupancy taxes charged on lodge friends — have rebounded dramatically for the reason that pandemic struck in 2020 and compelled the closure of Disneyland Resort for greater than a yr and pushed lodge occupancy to near-record low ranges.

Town is projected to gather $167 million in lodge occupancy taxes within the present fiscal yr, surpassing the earlier report excessive of $163 million in 2018-19, in response to metropolis finances data. Ten of town’s largest inns, together with three Disneyland Resort inns, generate about 50% of all town’s lodge occupancy revenues.

Anaheim’s lodge occupancy tax of 15% is among the many highest of Southern California’s hottest vacationer locations, together with Los Angeles (14%), Lengthy Seaside (13%) and Pasadena (12%).

Anaheim can also be projected to gather $97 million in gross sales tax revenues within the present fiscal yr, surpassing the earlier report excessive of $85 million in 2018-19, metropolis finances data present.

In the previous few years, town’s as soon as mutually supportive relationship with Disneyland Resort has been rocky.

For 19 years, Anaheim had in place a little-known measure to spare Disneyland Resort from any leisure or gate taxes imposed by town till 2015. Town prolonged the settlement for 30 years so long as Disney agreed to take a position no less than $1 billion within the resort. Disneyland met its obligation by constructing Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, a 14-acre growth venture that opened in 2019.

The settlement, and the goodwill between Anaheim and Disney, crumbled when town canceled a $267-million tax rebate plan supplied to Disneyland in change for constructing a luxurious four-diamond lodge on the resort property. Pissed off Disney executives responded in 2018 by asking Anaheim to rescind all of its earlier finance agreements, together with the 30-year break on leisure and gate taxes. That transfer opened the door to the proposed gate tax measure.