Committee recommends looking at an accommodation tax in Frontenac County

Jeff Green | Jun 12, 2025

The Planning and Economic Development Advisory Committee (PEDAC) of Frontenac County Council spent most of their June 5th meeting hearing a presentation by Bonnie Ruddock of Regional Tourism Organization (RTO) 9 - Southeastern Ontario - and Nicole Whiting of RTO 11 - Ontario's Highlands.

They said Frontenac County has taken an important step by completing and adopting a Destination Development Plan, but there is an added need for more resources to implement that plan over the next few years.

“Frontenac County is at the forefront of collaborative efforts to take advantage of a desire among visitors to enjoy rural experiences,” said Nicole Whiting. “The support is there, the strategy is there, so what might be getting in the way? Funding. Municipalities in our region are the ones who are responsible for visitor attraction to the area but they are working with very limited resources.”

“It would be so amazing if there was a revenue model to support tourism development that wouldn’t require a burden on your local taxpayers.

“I bring you the municipal accommodation tax!” said Nicole Whiting.

Bonnie Rutter then took over the presentation, and provided details about how the Ontario Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) has been implemented in various communities since it was approved by the government of Ontario in December of 2017.

Typically, the MAT is applied to roofed accommodations, such as hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts and short-term rentals (such as can be found on Airbnb and Vrbo). But it can be applied to non-roofed accommodations, such as campgrounds, as well. Those decisions are up to the municipality that applies the MAT within its jurisdiction.

Across Ontario the average rate that has been applied is between 4% and 5%.

Of net revenue that municipalities receive after administrative costs are factored, at least 50% must go back into tourism promotion. Where the rest goes, is up to the local municipality to determine.

In RTO 9, Kingston was the first to set it up, doing so in 2018, and within a short time Brockville, Gananoque, Prince Edward County, Bay of Quinte and Cornwall followed suit.

In recent years, smaller municipalities across the province have started using MAT as well. To date, 73 of the 444 Ontario municipalities have MAT in place.

In RTO 11, some of the 11 municipalities in Renfrew County have also brought in or are working on bringing in MAT policies. All four of the Haliburton County municipalities implemented MAT starting in October of 2024, applying it only to short term rentals.

“I would say Haliburton is the most similar to Frontenac County. They have four lower tier municipalities, a total population of around 20,000, with a dramatic increase in the seasonal resident population in the summer,” said Nicole Whiting.

Rutter encouraged the PEDAC to consider promoting that Frontenac County Council undertake a feasibility study to look at the potential of MAT for Frontenac County.

She emphasised that community engagement is a key factor in creating support for MAT among the accommodation providers who will need to collect, and the local community as a whole.

“We must prepare to meet concerns head on. Most objections to MAT arise from a misunderstanding, either about who it affects, or how the revenue is used,” she said.

Accompanying the presentation was a motion for PEDAC to engage the Frontenac County

Economic Development department to undertake a feasibility study to look at a Municipal Accommodation tax, and to ask Frontenac County Council to allocate $6,000 from the Economic Development reserve to cover the cost of the study.

According to Manager of Economic Development Richard Allen, an accommodation review that his department completed in 2017, identified over 100 roofed accommodation businesses in Frontenac County, without looking at any of the more informal short term rental operators listed only on websites like Airbnb or Vrbo. He estimated that a MAT could generate up to $500,000 per year in Frontenac County

The three mayors who were present at the meeting offered different perspectives.

Frontenac Islands Mayor Judy Greenwood-Speers, who chairs PEDAC, said that the idea is very welcome on Wolfe Island. She pointed out that on a voluntary basis, accommodation providers on the island already invest in joint ventures to promote each other.

Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith said there are a number of short-term rental operators in Central Frontenac that would need to be identified to make MAT work, without creating price advantage for the informal short term rental sector, and that would make it complicated to set up a MAT, but “if there is money on the table we should look at it carefully. I just don’t think it will be easy.”

South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal said he does not have a problem with a feasibility study, but South Frontenac would not pursue the informal, short term rental sector alone.

The motion to undertake a study was approved by the committee