(AP) — The Kauaʻi County Council has passed a bill adding a 3% surcharge to the state’s hotel tax. Mayor Derek Kawakami plans to sign the legislation which is due to take effect on Oct. 1. The Garden Island newspaper reports the county expects revenue from the tax to replace the roughly $15 million Kauaʻi used to receive each year from its share of the state’s transient accommodation tax. The state used to distribute a share of the revenue it collected from the 10.25% tax on hotel room stays and other short-term rentals to the counties but stopped doing so when the coronavirus pandemic squeezed its budget.

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