San Diego Hotel-Tax Jump Closer to Reality

It looks like visitors to San Diego could soon be facing a higher hotel room-tax.

If approved, a new ballot initiative could raise the current hotel tax from 10.5 percent to 15.5 percent for each hotel room in the city.

Backers of the proposal need to get 66,000 signatures by January 6 of next year, which would be about 10 percent of the registered voters in San Diego. If enough signatures are gathered, a public vote could take place by June 2016.

The new revenue generated by the additional hotel tax, projected to stand at $18M, would reportedly help fund capital improvements, such as the expansion of the San Diego Convention Center and/or a new Chargers football stadium.