Russell City Council Approves Resolution Setting Transient Guest Tax Rate at Four Percent

The Russell City Council met Tuesday and approved a resolution setting the transient guest tax rate at four percent and providing for May 1, 2024 as the commencement date.

According to City staff, Russell County has a transient guest tax of four percent, which has been in place since December 1, 1990. Kansas law allows counties to impose a transient guest tax and allows cities to impose the tax if they are located within a county that has not already imposed such tax. This rule of law generally prohibits a county and a city within that county from both imposing a transient guest tax. Cities can, however, exempt themselves from the statutes that are non-uniform in application. A number of cities within Kansas have done so.

Russell County's four percent transient guest tax collections resulted in $95,238.34 in 2023 and $98,222.75 in 2022. These are for state fiscal years, which run from July 1 to June 30.

On December 19, 2023, the Russell City Council adopted Charter Ordinance 22 exempting the City from the provisions of state statute and providing substitute and additional provisions for the transient guest tax, which include:

• definitions of what types of business the ordinance applies to and the meaning of convention and tourism promotion and development,
• authorizes the City Council to levy a transient guest tax not to exceed six percent upon the gross receipts derived from or paid by transient guests for sleeping accommodations,
• the process of collecting such tax,
• defines and states all funds received through the transient guest tax can only be expended for convention and tourism promotion and development purposes,
• prescribes a penalty for failure to pay the transient guest tax,
• authorizes the City Clerk to administer and collect transient guest tax levied, and
• directs the City Treasurer to credit two percent of the transient guest tax to the general fund to defray expenses of administration of the transient guest tax.

Charter Ordinance 22 was published as required and the 60 day protest period passed without a petition for referendum filed.

(Information courtesy City of Russell.)