The S.B. Vintners is proposing to create the first Wine Business Improvement District (BID) in California — a 1.5 percent tax on “all tasting room sales.”
BIDS were created in the middle of the last century by business owners to build parking lots for their customers in cities where the local government was unable to do so. The business owners financed the cost and upkeep of the parking lots.
In the end of the last century the hotel industry created tourism BIDS to finance advertising to attract visitors. The hotel BIDS charge a fee either as a percentage of the hotel bill or a fixed fee per guest. In our area there are hotel BIDS in Lompoc, Buellton, Solvang, Santa Ynez, and Santa Barbara. The S.B. Vintners argue that their Wine BID is like a hotel BID — it is not.