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James BurgessAshburn City Council

James Burgess for Ashburn City Council

City Budget · Where Ashburn's money comes from and where it goes

Taxes

Hotel-motel tax

8% added to a hotel room inside the city, paid by the guest.

Bottom line: Visitors pay it, not residents, and state law sends most of it to tourism. The city's reports on it stop after 2022.

Who paysGuests at the hotels by I-75 Exit 82
Who gets itCity, tourism marketing, tourism projects
Collected 2019–20$71,220
Collected 2021–22$29,913

How the money moves

  1. A guest pays 8% on the room
  2. The hotel sends it to the city
  3. Up to 3 of the 8 cents can go to the city's main account
  4. At least 5 of the 8 cents must go to tourism

A $100 room night in Ashburn

The guest pays $8. Here is what the law says those 8 dollars can do.

$1$1$1$1$1$150¢$150¢
  • Can go to the city's General Fundup to $3.0037.5% of the tax at the 8% rate.
  • Tourism marketingat least $3.50Advertising Ashburn to visitors, through a tourism group like the Chamber.
  • Tourism projectsat least $1.50Things visitors come for: attractions, signs, event spaces.

What the city collected

July 2019 – June 2020$71,220
July 2021 – June 2022$29,913
July 2022 – June 2023No report on file
July 2023 – June 2024No report on file
July 2024 – nowNot public

Turner County charges its own 5% outside city limits: $1,363 in 2022–23 and $2,465 in 2023–24.

It can pay for

  • Advertising Ashburn to visitors
  • Tourism projects: attractions, signs, event spaces
  • Up to 37.5% for the city's regular budget

It can't pay for

  • The city can't keep more than 37.5% at the 8% rate

What the records show

  • 2019–20: $45,273 spent on tourism, $15,092 moved to the tourism fund the Chamber and the Downtown Development Authority share, $21,583 moved to the General Fund.

What we can't see yet

  • Collections fell from $71,220 in 2019–20 to $29,913 in 2021–22. Why?
  • The state requires a report within six months of each fiscal year. None is on file for 2022–23 or 2023–24.
  • Who is the city's tourism partner today?

Anyone can ask City Hall for these records. Here's how.

In the Ashburn Comeback Plan:8.6Follow the Hotel-motel Tax

Ask about this

Where does the hotel-motel tax go?Why did hotel-motel collections drop?Who pays the hotel-motel tax?
Where these numbers came from
  1. DCA Hotel/Motel Tax Rates and Revenue Report
  2. DCA hotel-motel tax rules
  3. DCA hotel-motel tax complaint form
  4. City of Ashburn FY2020 audit

Compiled from public records as of October 22, 2026. Sales tax figures are unaudited state payment records; audits are the official word on what the city spent. For anything official, call City Hall at (229) 567-3431.

Paid for by James Burgess