Less than one month after presenting its latest funding idea to the county supervisors, the Santa Barbara County Vintners Association announced a retooled assessment model this week, proposing to add a one percent fee to all in-state sales for Santa Barbara County wineries.
Since that amount is tied to the California sales tax, it is a much easier metric to track than the previously proposed assessment of 1.5 percent of all tasting-room sales. In addition to tasting-room sales, the new one percent fee would include all wine-club sales to California residents.
The fee — which would be levied as part of a new Business Improvement District, or BID — is estimated to generate more than $1 million annually for the association, which is charged with marketing the region’s wines, attracting visitors, and boosting sales. That would nearly triple the association’s current budget of about $400,000, which pales in comparison to the marketing war chests of competing regions like Napa, Paso Robles, and Temecula Valley.