Cayuga County, NY Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

Section 237-56 taxes 3% of the rent for every occupancy of a room in a hotel, defined by section 237-55 to include a hotel, apartment hotel, motel, boarding house or club kept open for lodging guests, whether or not meals are served. The tax excuses a permanent resident, defined as anyone occupying the same room for at least 30 consecutive days, and any rent of $4 or less per day. Section 237-58 exempts occupancy by New York State and its agencies, the federal government, and nonprofit religious, charitable or educational organizations, so long as the group isn't really operating a for-profit business.

The tax applies only within Cayuga County's territorial limits under section 237-59. The County Treasurer administers and collects the tax, and operators must separately state it on every bill and hold it in trust for the county under section 237-61; the Treasurer may presume all rent is taxable until an operator proves otherwise. Section 237-66 sends the revenue to a special county fund earmarked for tourism promotion, convention development, historic and cultural programs, parks, and related infrastructure and public-safety support, and the county can keep 5% of collections for administering the tax; the rest goes to a single not-for-profit tourism promotion corporation. L. No. 3-2025, replaced the county's original 1994 hotel and motel occupancy tax law and its many amendments through 2024.