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Finance 101: Transient Lodging Tax (TLT)

by Robby Hammond, Hillsboro City Manager

Post Date:12/28/2023

City Manager Robby Hammond If you’ve taken a vacation and stayed in a hotel, you know about tourism taxes.

In Hillsboro, the Transient Lodging Tax (TLT) is collected only from visitors who stay overnight in hotels, making it unlike other taxes. Local residents do not pay TLT taxes unless they stay less than 30 days in a hotel or a short-term rental.

Here are the TLT rates on a hotel bill in Hillsboro. When you add the state, city, and county rates together, the total TLT tax rate in Hillsboro is 13.5%.

State of Oregon: 1.5%
Hillsboro: 3%
Washington County: 9%
Total: 13.5%

If a hotel stay is $100 per night, $13.50 in TLT taxes is distributed like this:

$0.45: Hotel operators who administer the tax
$0.60: Washington County's Event Center
$0.94: Washington County Fairgrounds Fund
$1.50: State of Oregon
$2.22: Tourism fund administered by the Washington County Visitors Association
$2.39: Cities in Washington County
$2.39: Washington County's General Fund
$3.00: City of Hillsboro

The State of Oregon requires 70% of TLT taxes enacted after 2003 go toward tourism-generating projects, programs, or facilities. The other 30% can go to provide services that visitors (and their vehicles) will need, such as public safety, safe roads, park maintenance, and more.

What the TLT Supports

The TLT financially supported the construction of the Wingspan Event & Conference Center at Westside Commons in Hillsboro. The City’s $8 million TLT contribution helped ensure Wingspan is a state-of-the-art facility with an adequate kitchen for events, including the Washington County Fair.

Gordon Faber Recreation Complex

The TLT is also the future source of the City’s $18 million in financial support for the Hillsboro Hops Ballpark Project. There are no plans to increase Hillsboro’s TLT rate, but the City has that option in the future — and the City will need to reapprove the TLT tax rate when it sunsets later this decade.