The City of Great Bend received its most recent tax distributions from the Kansas Department of Revenue and the numbers looked promising, City Administrator Kendal Francis told the City Council Monday night. 

They just got the October sales tax distribution, a total that covers taxes collected in August. “It was the highest ever recorded for that time period,” Francis said. The sales taxes have been in place since 2008. 

The total of $184,182.54 is higher than the $165,239.94 from August 2020. 

“So that’s obviously good news,” he said. He spoke on the eve of Tuesday’s general election where the fate of three new city sales taxes (covering quality of life, police station funding and changes to first responder pension plans) was to be decided. All three passed.

With the addition of the three new sales taxes, the city tax rate is 8.70%.

Guest tax

The city also received its fourth quarter transient guest tax collections. “The overall year was down as anticipated (due to COVID-19). But the fourth quarter distribution (June through August) was the third highest on record,” he said. 

The fourth quarter brought in $97,221.95, up from $ 84,581.52 in quarter three (March through May). Quarter one (September through November 2020) saw $72,970.86 and quarter two (December 2020 through February 2021) saw $50,885.80.

The total for the 2021 fiscal year was $305,660.13. This compares to the 2020 total of $281,121.51 and a 2019 total of $347,861.21.

The tax paid by hotel guests is used to fund the city’s marketing efforts.

Great Bend charges 6% for its guest tax, which is the money collected from those staying in local hotels. Of this, 10% goes to the Great Bend Events Center and the balance toward marketing the city through the CVB.

“It’s good to see that the hotel and motel industry is rebounding a little bit,” he said.