Great Wolf is flowing an average of $1.4 million a year into the municipal general fund.

To visualize what that means to the city, the annual receipts would cover the purchase of a new fire engine or cover all the annual payroll costs of nearly six police officers.

That is based on a report presented to the Manteca City Council Tuesday night when it approved the municipal budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.

The report was on room tax collections for first four full years of the 500-room hotel and indoor waterpark resort being open.

A 25-year split of the 9 percent room tax in place prior to the November 2018 election was used to lure the resort to Manteca

Manteca gets 25 percent of the pre-2018 room tax for the first 10 years. It jumps to 50% in the 11tth through 25th year. Then after that, 100 percent goes to the city,

Great Wolf used the room tax split to reimburse the city $6.7 million for the purchase of municipal land over 10 years and to pay $9.2 million in growth fees over 20 years.

The city’s average annual net take — on top of $67,500 a year that reimburses the sewer fund given that is what was used originally by the city to purchase the property and $450,975 that annually goes toward paying down growth fees — includes an additional 3 percent room tax increase passed by Manteca voters in 2018.

The first room tax increase in 27 years goes 100 percent to the city based on the Great Wolf deal. In turn, the city agreed not to raise the room tax again until 2045.

Keep in mind the tax split was key to making the numbers work for Great Wolf and to avoid the city floating any bonds for infrastructure that would have put city taxpayers at risk if the resort went south.

That said, without the split, Manteca would have kept all $19.8 million of room tax collected so far by Great Wolf.

It translates into about $5 million a year or almost $3.6 million more than the $1.4 million the city currently collects.

By chance, the 20-year three-quarter cent Measure Q temporary sales tax voters approved in November 2024 expires the same year the Great Wolf room tax sharing agreement does.

The $19.8 million in overall room tax collected on Great Wolf can be used to get a ballpark estimate of how much money primarily out of town guests are spending at the resort

The room tax receipts were $4,950,000 a year for the last four years.

Given they reflect 12 percent on top of the gross collected for rooms, food, and such it means Great Wolf is roughly a $400 million a year economic juggernaut based on gross receipts.

An analysis done before the project broke ground, indicated property tax the city receives from the resort would more than cover general fund expenses it cerates when it comes to the need for fire and police services as well as other municipal services that aren’t fee based.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com

Great Wolf is flowing an average of $1.4 million a year into the municipal general fund.

To visualize what that means to the city, the annual receipts would cover the purchase of a new fire engine or cover all the annual payroll costs of nearly six police officers.

That is based on a report presented to the Manteca City Council Tuesday night when it approved the municipal budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.

The report was on room tax collections for first four full years of the 500-room hotel and indoor waterpark resort being open.

A 25-year split of the 9 percent room tax in place prior to the November 2018 election was used to lure the resort to Manteca

Manteca gets 25 percent of the pre-2018 room tax for the first 10 years. It jumps to 50% in the 11tth through 25th year. Then after that, 100 percent goes to the city,

Great Wolf used the room tax split to reimburse the city $6.7 million for the purchase of municipal land over 10 years and to pay $9.2 million in growth fees over 20 years.

The city’s average annual net take — on top of $67,500 a year that reimburses the sewer fund given that is what was used originally by the city to purchase the property and $450,975 that annually goes toward paying down growth fees — includes an additional 3 percent room tax increase passed by Manteca voters in 2018.

The first room tax increase in 27 years goes 100 percent to the city based on the Great Wolf deal. In turn, the city agreed not to raise the room tax again until 2045.

Keep in mind the tax split was key to making the numbers work for Great Wolf and to avoid the city floating any bonds for infrastructure that would have put city taxpayers at risk if the resort went south.

That said, without the split, Manteca would have kept all $19.8 million of room tax collected so far by Great Wolf.

It translates into about $5 million a year or almost $3.6 million more than the $1.4 million the city currently collects.

By chance, the 20-year three-quarter cent Measure Q temporary sales tax voters approved in November 2024 expires the same year the Great Wolf room tax sharing agreement does.

The $19.8 million in overall room tax collected on Great Wolf can be used to get a ballpark estimate of how much money primarily out of town guests are spending at the resort

The room tax receipts were $4,950,000 a year for the last four years.

Given they reflect 12 percent on top of the gross collected for rooms, food, and such it means Great Wolf is roughly a $400 million a year economic juggernaut based on gross receipts.

An analysis done before the project broke ground, indicated property tax the city receives from the resort would more than cover general fund expenses it cerates when it comes to the need for fire and police services as well as other municipal services that aren’t fee based.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com