CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio — Circleville City Council voted July 21 to expand the city’s lodging tax to explicitly cover Airbnb-style short-term rentals and to create a dedicated fund steering a portion of that tax revenue to the Pickaway County Visitor’s Center.
Council passed the two measures as emergency ordinances, meaning they took effect immediately rather than after the standard 30-day waiting period, according to the ordinances.
The first ordinance rewrites definitions in the city’s 1988 lodging-tax law, formally extending the tax to short-term rental hosts and booking platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo, not just traditional hotels and motels. It also updates references to state tax code sections that have been renumbered since 1988 and sets penalties for violations at up to $1,000 in fines or six months in jail, the ordinance said.
The tax itself remains unchanged at a combined 6% — a 3% excise tax that funds the city’s general operations, plus an additional 3% tax split evenly between the general fund and the Pickaway County Visitor’s Center, according to the ordinance.
The second ordinance creates a new city treasury account, Fund 502, to hold and disburse that revenue. Under the ordinance, all of the original 3% tax goes to the general fund, while half of the additional 3% — 1.5% of a guest’s total lodging bill — is set aside for the Visitor’s Center to cover operations, marketing and efforts to attract conventions to the area. The remaining half also goes to the general fund.
In exchange for the dedicated funding, the Visitor’s Center must submit an annual budget, marketing plan and financial report to council by Jan. 31 each year, and the city auditor is authorized to audit the center’s use of the money at any time, the ordinance said.
Hotel and short-term rental operators must collect the tax from guests, list it separately on receipts and remit it to the city auditor monthly. Operators who miss a payment deadline face a 10% penalty plus 1% monthly interest on the unpaid amount, according to the ordinance.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Circleville City Council.
