Visitors booking rooms in Manteca hotels contribute more than $420,000 a year to Manteca’s municipal budget.

The funds are raised through a voter-approved 9 percent room tax.

“It’s a huge source of revenue for the city,” City Manager Steve Pinkerton said. “They are taxes that don’t burden residents and the state can’t touch it.”

It is known officially as a transit occupancy tax. Every year it accounts for roughly 1.3 percent of all municipal revenue that pours into the general fund that covers day-to-day services such as public safety and parks.

The city uses the room tax receipts to pay roughly $80,000 a year to the non-profit Manteca Convention & Visitors Bureau. The CVB, in turn, works to fill hotel rooms by promoting tourism. They also stage various events designed to lure visitors who spend money on food, amusements, gas, and in stores by working with organizations to secure everything from major soccer and softball tournaments to BMX races.  It creates economic activity in the private sector, protects and develops jobs, and generates additional sales and gas taxes for the city.

The CVB last year took a 3.8 percent reduction in funding that matched what city employees had to forgo to help balance the budget.

Pinkerton noted that the CVB is instrumental to city plans to grow additional revenue. One major source could be the proposed 400- to 600-room Great Wolf Resort with an indoor water park and convention center. The city is considering a special 15 percent entertainment zone room tax that they believe will generate between $4 million and $6 million a year. That is based on Great Wolf’s performance at other locations including Grand Mound in the State of Washington.