Disneyland and Honda Center face 2% gate tax under Anaheim ballot proposal

The Anaheim Metropolis Council will think about Tuesday asking voters to impose a 2% gate tax on guests to Disneyland and the Honda Middle to generate further revenues to pay for added employees 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 12 months to be deposited within the metropolis normal 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 funds that he mentioned has been stretched skinny. Moreno, who’s serving his final 12 months 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 Middle, house 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 the town’s lease settlement with the Angels, the town could be required to credit score the Angels towards its lease settlement for any “levies or assesses any ticket, admission, parking or different tax or payment primarily based upon revenues derived from operations on the Baseball Stadium or Parking Space, or Staff revenues.” Briefly, the lease settlement would be sure that a gate tax received’t increase the town’s coffers.

Getting the council to conform to put the measure on the poll may very well 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 Might 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 chance 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 nicely 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 the town’s major income sources — gross sales taxes and occupancy taxes charged on resort company — have rebounded dramatically because the pandemic struck in 2020 and compelled the closure of Disneyland Resort for greater than a 12 months and pushed resort occupancy to near-record low ranges.

Town is projected to gather $167 million in resort occupancy taxes within the present fiscal 12 months, surpassing the earlier file excessive of $163 million in 2018-19, in response to metropolis funds data. Ten of the town’s largest accommodations, together with three Disneyland Resort accommodations, generate about 50% of all the town’s resort occupancy revenues.

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

Anaheim can also be projected to gather $97 million in gross sales tax revenues within the present fiscal 12 months, surpassing the earlier file excessive of $85 million in 2018-19, metropolis funds data present.

In the previous couple of years, the 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 the town till 2015. Town prolonged the settlement for 30 years so long as Disney agreed to speculate not less than $1 billion within the resort. Disneyland met its obligation by constructing Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, a 14-acre enlargement challenge that opened in 2019.

The settlement, and the goodwill between Anaheim and Disney, crumbled when the town canceled a $267-million tax rebate plan supplied to Disneyland in alternate for constructing a luxurious four-diamond resort on the resort property. Annoyed 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.