At the Nov. 16 town council meeting, Councilor Alana Courtney asked Urbanna Town Treasurer Michele Hutton how the town knows if food vendors are paying their correct amount. “Do we just trust them?” asked Courtney.
Urbanna Oyster Festival food vendors are required to collect and forward the 5% meals tax to the town.
Hutton said that she has a spread sheet going back about 10 years to compare sales by individual food and beverage vendors at the festival. Hutton said she has called vendors who have reported a low amount of sales to see if they’d “like to double check or would they like me to call the state and have them double check? We have a pretty good idea if they’re cheating us or not.”
