February 27, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
Can the county assess a hotel/motel tax on local halfway houses?
Seventh district county commissioner Bruce Malone raised the question during Monday night’s regular monthly meeting of the commission.
Malone had already brought this matter to the attention of County Mayor Tim Stribling who sought an opinion from Ben Rodgers of the UT County Technical Assistance (CTAS).
Under a private act authorized by the state legislature, the county commission can levy a privilege tax upon the privilege of occupancy in any hotel of each transient in the amount of five percent (5%) of the consideration charged by the operator. Such tax is a privilege tax upon the transient occupying such room and is to be collected as provided in this act.
“Hotel” means any structure or space, or any portion thereof, which is occupied or intended or designed for occupancy by transients for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes, and includes any hotel, inn, tourist camp, tourist court, tourist cabin, motel or any place in which rooms, lodgings or accommodations are furnished to transients for a consideration.
“Transient” means any person who exercises occupancy or is entitled to occupancy for any rooms, lodgings or accommodations in a hotel for a period of less than thirty (30) continuous days.
“If a person stays there less than 30 continuous days, it would appear that the halfway house might be subject to hotel/motel tax. However, unlike a “hotel, inn, tourist camp, tourist court, tourist cabin, [or] motel,” a halfway house is not open to the public, and although it is not expressly stated in the private act, the implication is that the taxable rooms are open to the public. We think a halfway house might be considered more in the nature of a hospital than a hotel, and while we have found no caselaw in Tennessee on the subject I did find one in Iowa where the court determined that the hotel/motel tax did not apply to hospital sleeping rooms,” wrote Rodgers in response to County Mayor Stribling.
“We have found no caselaw or attorney general opinions on this in Tennessee. While I cannot say with certainty, it is my opinion that a court would not extend the application of the tax to a halfway house,” added Rodgers.
County attorney Hilton Conger said the residents of the halfway houses, typically ordered by the court to be there, usually stay for longer than 30 days at a time.
Malone said since treatment services offered are not under the same roof as the halfway houses here and since residents can be ejected for rules violations at any time, he felt the halfway houses might be considered lodging homes and perhaps subject to the tax.