County’s bed tax tops $100K for third straight year

Photo by Tom Rivers: Laura Bentley, second from left in back, gives the Albion Rotary Club a tour of the Fairhaven Inn last Thursday. Fairhaven offers eight rooms on Ridge Road next to the Tavern on the Ridge, the former Village Inn. Rotary members Dick Remley, Marlene Seielstad and Don Bishop were among those on the tour.

ALBION – Orleans County saw its bed tax revenues top $100,000 for the third straight year in 2024.

The total at $116,712 is just below the $119,003 in 2023, which is the county’s all-time high. Orleans first topped $100,000 in 2022 with $111,548.

There are about 200 rooms for rent in the county, including at hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, and short-term rentals.

Dawn Borchert, the county’s tourism director, said the county could use more rooms, especially near Lake Ontario where many fishermen come to catch Chinook salmon, brown trout, steelhead and other big fish.

“We are losing hotel rooms to Batavia and Corfu,” Borchert said. “People want to be closer to the water and not have to get up so early. The vibe I have here is people are full, they’re booked.”

Many of the fishermen are up before the crack of dawn to go fishing at Lake Ontario and the tributaries. They don’t want to have to drive more than a half hour from Genesee County.

Orleans County imposes a 4 percent bed tax on top of the 8 percent sales tax.

Before reaching $100,000 in bed tax in 2022, the county’s revenue was $79,102 in 2021, $58,438 in 2020, $58,424 in 2019, $51,002 in 2018 and $45,374 in 2017, according to data from the county treasurer’s office.

The revenue has been up since the 58-room Comfort Inn & Suites in Medina opened on March 18, 2022. There also have been numerous new short-term rentals available as Airbnbs. Bent’s Opera House also opened 10 hotel rooms in 2021.

The county sets aside the bed tax to fund tourism department and initiatives to bring in visitors. The increase in funds allowed the county to hire a sportsfishing coordinator in December 2022, filling a position that had been vacant for nearly five years. Ron Bierstine promotes the county’s top tourism draw of sportsfishing attending more of fishing shows, including in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The county also has stepped up its digital advertising on Facebook to promote events in Orleans to attract more visitors to the area. The tourism department promotes local festivities, museums and other attractions.

Sportsfishing has a total economic impact of $28 million in Orleans County, according to the NY State DEC Anglers Survey for 2017. Out-of-state anglers account for 70 percent of the fishing economic output in Orleans County, $19,620,488 of the $27,989,393. County residents who fish accounted for $1,767,334 in economic activity while other New York state residents outside Orleans represented another $6,601,571.