The Kleberg County Commissioner’s Court has taken action to start charging a hotel occupancy tax and will ask rural voters in Precinct 1 and Precinct 3 to decide on creating a county assistance district and charging a sales tax.

According to Kleberg County Judge Pete De La Garza, a hotel occupancy tax of seven percent will be applied to all lodging establishments in the rural areas, including motels, bed and breakfast inns and lodges.

Recreational vehicle parks and campgrounds where there are no lodges provided are not included.

“The hotel tax is in place and we are working on notifying all the establishments in the county of this tax,” De La Garza said.

He said the commissioner’s court has not yet decided where the revenue from this tax will go, but it has to be used for recreation, including parks and piers, as well as public relations, and tourism.

“There are a lot of things we need, so we are going to have to sit down and see where the money can be used most effectively,” he said.

De La Garza said the tax people of the county, because it is geared towards collecting revenue from people who are traveling through the county and staying here temporarily.

“The good thing about these taxes, is the people who use the hotels (and lodges) will be charged this tax and people who live within the county only makeup a small percentage of that,” De La Garza said.

“It is outsiders who are going to pay this tax; very little will be paid by the people of the county,” he said.

Pct. 3 County Commissioner Roy Cantu said that between $15,000 to $20,000 is expected to be collected within the first year.

In the meantime, voters who live within the outlying rural areas of Kleberg County, mostly precinct one and three, will get the chance to vote in the Nov. 2 general election on a half-cent county assistance district sales tax.

Cantu said this particular sales tax was authorized by the Texas legislature a few years ago and can be imposed in counties that have a population of less than 45,000.

“The purpose of this sales tax is to help counties with money that has to be used in the rural areas,” Cantu said.

He said that although there will be a sales tax increase, the current Riviera sales tax is 6.75 percent, which is lower than the 8.25 percent tax in Kingsville.

“Although it’s a slight increase, we are still going to be below what you would pay in Kingsville or Corpus Christi, so this is not that big of a difference,” Cantu said.

He said that if voters residing in the district approve the sales tax increase, the county judge and the county commissioners would serve as the board of directors for the improvement district.

A separate budget would be created designating how the revenue generated would be spent for development with the district.

“The funds received from this tax can go to roads, infrastructure, sewer and water improvements, parks, libraries, even fire or EMS services or anything that benefits the welfare of the citizens of the general area,” Cantu said.

Cantu said more than likely most of the money will go towards roads and bridges and emergency services as well as sewer districts that are getting heavy traffic, such as Riviera, where the sewer system is mostly used by the motels and convenience stores.

He said a small portion will go towards maintaining their infrastructure for emergencies.

“Seventy to 75 percent of this money is coming from visitors passing through, and although they don’t live here they put a strain on our infrastructure, so we’re trying to collect from people who use our services but don’t pay for it,” Cantu said.

If approved by voters in November, the half-cent sales tax increase could bring in an estimated $100,000 in its first year, he said.