Town makes sure vendors collect meals tax at festival

At the Nov. 16 town council meeting, Councilor Alana Courtney asked Urbanna Town Treasurer Michele Hutton how the town knows if food vendors are paying their correct amount. “Do we just trust them?” asked Courtney.

Urbanna Oyster Festival food vendors are required to collect and forward the 5% meals tax to the town.

Hutton said that she has a spread sheet going back about 10 years to compare sales by individual food and beverage vendors at the festival. Hutton said she has called vendors who have reported a low amount of sales to see if they’d “like to double check or would they like me to call the state and have them double check? We have a pretty good idea if they’re cheating us or not.”

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No business licenses

Hutton also reported that during the recent Urbanna Oyster Festival she checked vendors to see if they had purchased a town business license. Hutton found 13 that had not gotten a license.

With the Virginia State Police standing by if needed, eight of the vendors then bought a license, four vendors voluntary shut down and left. The one nonprofit vendor, which was not selling anything, was allowed to stay.

Hutton said that this year she collected $22,300 from about 108 vendors for business licenses. That money is given to the Urbanna Oyster Festival Foundation to help pay for police and security, which costs about $47,000, she added. Meals tax money stays with the town.

There were a total 29 food vendor “locations” at the festival that are required to collect meals tax, said Hutton, explaining that some vendors have more than one location at the festival.