The head of the Door County Tourism Zone Commission says recent changes to Wisconsin’s room tax statute outlined in the state budget will not impact municipalities in Door County. Commission Chairman Josh Van Lieshout says the tourism zone won’t be impacted by the changes because it already follows room tax law as outlined by the state. Van Lieshout says the changes will really come to those Wisconsin municipalities that have been keeping more than 30% of room tax collections for their own purposes. With ten founding communities, the local tourism zone now encompasses 19 Door County towns and villages, making it one of the few tourism zones in the United States to include an entire county.
The Door County Tourism Zone features about 974 permit holders countywide, from one and two unit properties such as cabins, homes or condos, to bed and breakfasts and large resort complexes. At year end 2014, there were 956 permitted properties in Door County, with 121 new properties added last year. Room tax collections in 2014 were $3.8 million, up 4.79% from the year before.
