History of Transient Occupancy Taxes in Contra Costa County  
Transient Occupancy Taxes (TOT) are authorized under State Revenue and Taxation Code Section 7280, as an additional source of non-property tax revenue to local government. TOT revenues are discretionary, general purpose revenue dollars that the Board of Supervisors may direct for any legitimate county expense. The tax code does not require any specific use of the TOT revenues by local jurisdictions.  
Contra Costa County did not adopt a Transient Occupancy Tax ordinance until 1990, which had an effective date of October 30, 1990. This tax is levied at a rate of 10% for accommodations at facilities in the unincorporated areas of the County, pursuant to Chapter 64-4 of the County Ordinance Code. Historically, all TOT revenue received by the County has been deposited into the General Fund.   
Contra Costa Future Fund Establishment  
On February 4, 2003, the Board of Supervisors created the Contra Costa Future Fund (CCFutures) by dedicating a portion of the TOT revenue collected from the Renaissance Club Sport Hotel located in the unincorporated Walnut Creek (Contra Costa Centre area) for early intervention and prevention programs designed to reduce high-cost crisis/safety net services. At that time, the Board identified the mission of CCFutures to be:   
  
"....investing in programs and services that are results-based, family-oriented, collaborative, and available at critical points in the lives of children and families, thereby improving family functioning and reducing the high costs of dependency."   
  
In fiscal year 2003/04, the first year of CCFutures, TOT revenue totaled $593,407 and over the next several years, the average annual revenue to the program totaled $651,549.  
  
2008 & 2011 Review of Special Revenue Funds  
On December 9, 2008, following a discussion about a proposal to allocate Dougherty Valley Regional Enhancement funds to provide industrial education and vocational training to West County youths, the Board of Supervisors referred to the Internal Operations Committee (IOC) a review of how special revenue or “trust” funds are expended by the County and the possible development of a policy regarding the expenditure of such funds. At that time, staff compiled information on selected special revenues administered by the Board of Supervisors and drafted a policy that defined various types of special revenues and how new special revenues would be administered in the future. In 2009, that matter was discussed in June, July, and September at IOC and at two meetings of the Finance Committee while on dual referral.   
On December 15, 2009, the Board voted unanimously to affirm that existing special revenue funds are to be administered by the Supervisor serving in the district for which the special revenue fund was created, unless specified otherwise when the fund was established, such as a Community Benefit Agreement.  
  
Later, on September 13, 2011, the Board of Supervisors again made a two-part referral to the Finance and Internal Operations Committees. The first part was to look specifically at the County’s Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) revenues including the history of collection and allocation. The second part of the referral was to revisit the report of Special Revenue Funds Administered by Board of Supervisors Members.   
  
Sunsetting of CCFutures Program Direct Allocation  
On October 25, 2011, the Board of Supervisors considered a recommendation of the Finance Committee to deposit all TOT funds (including revenues from the Renaissance Club Sport Hotel for CCFutures programs) into the General Fund as general-purpose revenue and that any future allocations for CCFutures be discussed during the annual budget process rather than through an automatic allocation of TOT revenue. Following this direction fiscal year 2012/13 was the first, full fiscal year that all TOT revenues were deposited directly into the General Fund as unrestricted general-purpose revenue. Since 2011, CCFutures funds have been used to partially offset the costs one District IV staff member and has been included as part of the County budget process. As of the beginning of fiscal year 2022/23, $1,128,305 in residual CCFutures TOT revenues remained available for allocation.   
  
Today’s action requests the Board to authorize future use of the remaining one-time CCFutures funds, in the approximate amount of $1,128,305, to be directed towards Economic Development in Supervisorial District IV, provide a source for matching fund programs and community benefits to be administered by the District IV Supervisor.