The City of Santa Barbara received $1,167,245 in ongoing transient occupancy tax (TOT) for the month of January, which is a 16.2 percent growth over the previous January.

This large increase is due to several factors, including continued good weather, one more weekend day this January versus last January, and an increase in occupancy rates compared with last January.

The average room occupancy rate for hotels citywide increased nearly four percentage points to 68 percent — a historically high number for the month of January. Revenues from vacation rentals also contributed to the growth.

Through the first seven months, over $11.1 million in TOT has been collected, which represents a 13 percent growth rate compared with last year. TOT continues to exceed original estimates and is expected to exceed the current budget for TOT of $17,641,400.

Click here to view the transient occupancy tax table.

— Robert Samario is the finance director for the City of Santa Barbara.