In Plymouth, since the adoption of the meals tax six years ago, the town has relied on income from that tax to pay down the debt on the thirty million dollar-plus reconstruction of town hall. Income from the .75% tax has been consistent until the pandemic.
Bobbi Clark has more on the story:
The pandemic changed the rules for how restaurants can operate, and that affected their income and consequently the town’s income from the meals tax. Finance Director Lynne Barrett says income from that tax had shown a steady increase…
“…year over year, probably about an increase of 6% each year that we’ve been in the fund. And with Covid, what happened was obviously the restaurants closed, then at some point they got opened up for takeout. So, at the time, we had estimated that the meals tax was going to decrease about 70%.”
But, the figures proved better than expected:
“Our first payment that we got for March, April and May—of this past year, was a reduction over what we had received the same quarter the previous year—the reduction was about 46%.”
The situation improved with the renewal of inside dining, and the introduction of outside dining.
“We received June, July and August, the next quarter, and that was only 29% less than the previous year.”
Also this summer, the town converted Court and Main Streets, where many restaurants are located, into a one-way corridor to facilitate outside dining.
