Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond announced that Tourist Development Tax (TDT) collections received by Orange County for December 2021 were $28,244,100, a 164.3 percent increase compared to December 2020. “In short, it was a December to remember,” Comptroller Diamond said.
Month-over-month, December collections were higher than November collections by $ 3.2 million and were higher than December 2019 collections by $2.4 million. This month’s collections were the highest December collections ever. These were also the third highest monthly collections in the history of the TDT.
“Hopefully it’s a sign of what’s to come,” Diamond added. There is a two month time lag between when TDT is collected and when it is remitted, received and recorded on the County’s financial books. Therefore, December reserves reflect October TDT collections.
The Orange County tourist development tax reserves increased by $3.1 million in December. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Orange County has used about $130 million of reserves to meet the TDT obligations. That leaves about $51 million left in undesignated reserves, compared to $181 million. Diamond called that a “pretty substantial decrease over the course of the pandemic.”
Additional month-to-month statistics include:
- December 2021 collections were higher than November 2021 collections by $3.2 million
- December 2021 collections were higher than December 2019 collections just $2.4 million
- December 2021 collections were the highest December collection on record
- December 2021 collections were the third highest collections on record overall
The Orange County Comptroller’s office will release the January TDT collections report in early March.
