Rental Tax To Be Revisited In Ocean City

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Ocean City Council is again set to consider imposing a 3 percent occupancy tax on rental units, though it differs slightly from its previous iteration.

On Thursday's agenda is a new ordinance that would apply the occupancy tax to "transient accommodations" booked through the "transient space marketplace" - meaning this fee would apply to rentals like Airbnb or VRBO which are booked online.

This is similar to what was proposed initially last November. However, due to council members wishing to be consistent, they expanded it to include hotels and motels. That addendum is what caused the ordinance to fail. Read more: Occupancy Tax Proposal Fails In Ocean City

It faced pushback from local hotel and motel owners, who feared the additional tax would have a negative impact on their industry.

"Perhaps most important is the overall impact this will have on the entire city," Karen Barlow, representing the Beach Club Hotel and Beach Club Suites, said at the time. "If we increase rates by an additional 3 percent tax, guests will likely stay fewer nights, and therefore there will be less spending in Ocean City and a negative overall impact on revenue for the community."

Members of City Council who supported the initial proposal said it would be a relatively simple way to generate more revenue for the city.

If the ordinance is approved at Thursday's meeting, it would need a public hearing and final vote before going into effect. That would be at the July 17 meeting.