Since the Municipal Accommodation Tax was implemented on April 1, 2019, the Town of Huntsville has collected roughly $4 Million.
In 2017 the Province passed legislation enabling municipalities to implement a transient accommodation tax. It stipulated that at least 50 per cent of the revenue has to be shared with a not-for-profit organization whose mandate included tourism promotion.
In 2018, the Town of Huntsville passed a bylaw that would allow the implementation of a four per cent MAT tax to be applied to all short-term accommodations under 30 days.
The Huntsville Municipal Accommodation Tax Association (HMATA) was formed as a non-share capital corporation. It currently receives seventy percent of the Municipal Accommodation Tax that is collected by the municipality. HMATA is responsible for determining how to best utilize those funds to grow visitors and occupancies in the Town of Huntsville. The remaining thirty percent of the Municipal Accommodation Tax is retained by the Corporation of the Town of Huntsville. It currently retains 100 per cent of fees related to accommodations such as those found on Airbnb as it refines the licensing and MAT collection process for such rentals.
Jesse Hamilton, chair of HMAT and general manager of Deerhurst Resort was before Huntsville Council at its January 30 meeting to give council a high-level summary of HMATA’s recently completed strategic plan.
Hamilton said of the estimated $4 Million collected to date, about $2.7 Million has been under the stewardship of HMATA “and around $1.5 Million of that money has found its way into our community in the tourism space in one way or another,” said Hamilton, citing the popular Eclipse Walk With Light as well as other partnerships including a voucher system with regional tourism organization RTO12.
He said while COVID and other factors presented some delays in getting HMATA’s strategic plan completed, which the Town of Huntsville has been waiting for, the plan which Hamilton said involved input from over 80 stakeholders, has been completed with help from consultant Floor 13 to assist in the process of putting the plan together.
The plan was approved by the board of HMATA last October and its vision is for Huntsville to become Ontario’s most visited year-round destination, which is made possible by Huntsville’s engaged community and tourism industry. “Our mission is to inspire year-round sustainable growth in Huntsville’s visitor economy by working with our local and usual partners to motivate visitors to enjoy our unique brand of community hospitality and Muskoka experiences,” said Hamilton, adding that the strategic plan will guide HMATA’s work between now and 2025.
The next step is the creation of a Huntsville Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) to implement the strategic plan and best use for the funds. Hamilton said HMATA is well-positioned to become the DMO—a decision that ultimately rests with Huntsville Council.
Council asked staff to return with a report, detailing, among other things, the role of the DMO, study the strategic plan provided by HMATA as well as compile a detailed account of the funds.
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Why not send money to the hospital that serves the tourists? How about 1 million dollars with a portion collected each year to go to the hospital?
Pretty nice “cash cow” for Huntsville, you can almost hear it Moo, but at least in this case the money is coming from mostly non-local visitors who can probably afford the tax as part of their discretionary expenses.
Council and residents – take note. Short term accommodation is not your enemy but an economic benefit to the community as well as income for many who need it. We need to look at the European model which welcomes and event promotes STA as an economic driver and source of additional income for those struggling to afford life in Muskoka.