Medina adopts new 2-percent occupancy tax for lodging

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 February 2025 at 8:40 am

MEDINA – The Medina Village Board has adopted a 2-percent occupancy for hotels, motels, short-term rentals and other lodging establishments in the village.

The Village Board held a public hearing on the new tax last week and the board adopted it with no comments offered from the public. However, the village is still working through how the tax will be implemented. A start hasn’t been established for when the lodging establishments need to begin collecting the tax.

Village officials aren’t sure how much the 2-percent tax will generate. It is on top of a 4-percent occupancy tax collected by Orleans County. That “bed tax” raised $119,003 for the county in 2023 and is used to promote tourism to bring in more visitors to the county. (Both the county and village occupancy taxes are also in addition to the 8-percent sales tax.)

The 2-percent tax in Medina gives the village some new revenue at a time when it faces rising costs for a new fire truck and an addition to the fire hall, as well as overall operations. The village has tried in recent years for a boost in the local sales tax revenue and also more money from the state in Aid and Incentives to Municipalities or AIM, but has seen little change from the county and state.

The Village Board didn’t designate how the funds will be spent, except to specify the money will be “allocated at the discretion of the Medina Village Board for any Village purpose.”

Lodging establishments are to pay the village the occupancy tax in quarterly payments.

To see the local law on the occupancy tax, click here.