By Benjamin Rothstein

DOVER — The implementation of a lodging tax has been a hot topic in Kent County over the past couple months.

On March 11, the city of Dover raised its tax from 1.5% to 3%, to rectify collection issues.

That move put a similar idea into the minds of Levy Court commissioners.

However, state legislation dictates that county governments can only tax establishments in unincorporated areas, with ones in incorporated places at the mercy of their corresponding municipalities.

In Kent County, only four hotels fit that bill.

So, county officials are asking the state to allow Kent’s proposed 3% lodging tax to apply to all hotels in its boundaries, regardless of incorporation status — therefore, stacking on top of other cities’ and towns’.

Commissioner Jeff Hall, who brought a resolution March 26 that will have the county signal its wishes to the state, cited several reasons for it.

“Kent County Levy Court is facing severe financial challenges for a wide range of reasons, including the unfunded mandate (of) the countywide reassessment of rural property; a looming end of federal COVID relief; a precipitous decline in cyclical revenues like the real estate transfer tax; an inflationary environment that has increased the cost of doing business and increased demand for core services like EMS, based on the growing and aging population; and other factors (that) are beyond the control of the Levy Court commissioners,” he said, reading Resolution 4041 into the record.

In support was Commissioner Jody Sweeney, who originally brought up the idea at a previous budget discussion.

“As a dad, when my kids said, ‘Everyone else’s doing it,’ I would tell them it doesn’t work that way,” he said. “But, in this case, the other two counties enabling legislation (to charge lodging taxes for hotel stays in unincorporated areas) should not exclude Kent County just because the original attempt to do so back in 2019 was so ill-conceived.”

That proposal, which received much pushback five years ago, would have directed part of the funding from the county lodging tax to the DE Turf sports complex in Frederica, a nongovernment entity. It resulted in Senate Bill 198, which blocked the county from granting any monies earned via a potential lodging tax to DE Turf.

According to Commissioner Sweeney, this was at the request of the Levy Court, after further deliberation at the time.

“The office of Kent County Tourism revealed there’s about 25 hotels in Kent County. Of those 25, only four are located in unincorporated areas, which is why we request, through this resolution, to loop all areas in the county,” he said. “I can only speak from experience, but during my travels, ... I’ve never requested a list of taxes that are included as part of the room fee.”

Commissioner Sweeney later explained that the new resolution indicates to the state that the Levy Court wants a section of the state code changed, with the actual change included in a state bill down the line.

Resolution 4041 passed unanimously, with Levy Court officials hoping the issue gets addressed by state lawmakers soon.