Surrey council has approved a three per cent tax rate for five years related to the Surrey Municipal and Regional District Tax to help fund sports-related tourism and similar events in the city.
The City of Surrey hasn't been retaining any of that revenue but now wants a piece of the action.
Council voted on Nov. 4 to increase the tax from June 1, 2025 until May 31, 2030. It also authorized city staff per a corporate report to endorse the Surrey Tourism and Convention Association – Discover Surrey, which operates under an independent board – as the city's "destination marketing association," and for staff to submit the tax renewal application to the Lieutenant Governor in Council through B.C.'s Ministry of Finance.
The report notes the MRDT in Surrey has "increased significantly" since it was last authorized in 2020 and last year collected $2.7 million.
"I call this a hotel tax," Coun. Doug Elford said. "I notice it is distributed percentage-wise – I don't know who makes that decision on who gets what. I know a little bit comes to us and I think we use it for sport tourism if I'm correct.
"It's I won't say lucrative but the price of hotels has been quite high and there has been a fair amount of money being taken in by this organization. I'm wondering if there's an opportunity for a little bit more money to come to us, to Surrey?"
Laurie Cavan, Surrey's general manager of parks, recreation and culture, replied it will provide resources to help city staff bid on and attract events to come to Surrey.
"This is the first time we've negotiated through this agreement a contribution coming to the City of the .4 per cent," she said. "It is also some support for us to administer the relationship and other details in regards to the economic benefits of tourism within the city so we have negotiated that so the City receives some resources.
"We're really looking forward to strengthening our relationship with the Surrey hotel/motels Discover Surrey and having the resources to attract more events both sport tourism-wise, conferences, other smaller events that we have the capacity to host in the city of Surrey," Cavan told council.
The MRDT is an accommodations tax administered by the provincial ministries of finance, tourism, arts and culture and Destination BC that's collected under the Provincial Sales Tax, to fund tourism marketing. It's funds are received by the City of Surrey then distributed to Discover Surrey and the Surrey Hotel and Motel Association (SHMA), representing accommodation providers.
First in place in Surrey since 2002, the MRDT was renewed for five-year contracts in 2007 and 2012 but was repealed in 2016, the report reads, "due to insufficient support from local accommodation providers."
It was re-established in 2019, on Discover Surrey's request, and the current term expires on May 31, 2025. Surrey's renewal application needs to be submitted to the provincial government by Dec. 1, 2024.
Currently the City of Surrey levies at a rate of three per cent on short-term accommodation sales then allocates two per cent to Discover Surrey for tourism marketing, .8 per cent to SHMA for promoting hotels, and .2 per cent to the provincial government's destination development fund.
The new model would see 1.8 per cent go to Discover Surrey, .6 per cent to the SHMA, .4 per cent to the City and .2 per cent to the provincial government.
It's projected the MRDT will collect $15.3 million over the five years and Surrey's cut, at .4 per cent, would be roughly $2 million.
