Covered by Documenter Janenell Smith (notes)
Parking tax: The Cleveland Board of Zoning Appeals reversed a city decision to not waive roughly $87,000 in parking occupancy taxes. Similar to a sales tax, the parking occupancy tax charges patrons 8% of their parking fee. Parking operators are expected to collect the tax and pay it to the city. As the result of a three-year audit issued in 2022, the city retroactively assessed some taxes to residents who use the downtown Crittenden Court Garage.
A city official said the audit was the result of a newfound capacity to ensure compliance. The board sided with garage representatives who argued that the residents were exempt from the tax under Cleveland’s code. City and garage officials had different interpretations of who was eligible to be exempt.
Want to learn more about zoning? Check out this introduction to Cleveland zoning by Cleveland City Planning’s Matt Moss.