The Williamsburg City Council on Thursday approved a new admissions tax as well as increases to the city’s lodging and meals taxes.
The lodging tax will increase by 2% while the meals tax will rise by 1.5%. The admissions tax will place a 10% levy on the first $10 charged for any amusement or entertainment admission. Admissions for both public and private schools as well as college-sponsored events will be exempted from the tax.
The increases went into effect immediately following the council’s vote.
Both increases and the new tax were included in the city’s adopted fiscal year 2027 budget. To save money, the budget also left nine city jobs vacant and eliminated $22.8 million worth of capital improvement projects.
During the meeting’s open forum, resident Sabrina Fairbanks suggested that the city cut spending from their capital improvement plan instead of imposing tax increases. She said some capital projects have been listed for years, with ideas generated from surveys dating back to 2017.
“It might be time to look at how many years are we going to kick these things down the road and try to figure out how to fund them,” Fairbanks said.
Mayor Douglas Pons said that after much conversations last year, the decision was the best way to meet the city’s needs. Vice Mayor W. Pat Dent said they considered increasing the real estate tax based on community member feedback.
“But it was a significant real estate tax increase to make up the revenue that would generate from these additional taxes,” Dent said. “I think there’s been healthy discussions, but we’re at a point where we approved a budget based on these revenues coming in.”
James W. Robinson, 757-799-0621, james.robinson@virginiamedia.com
