Transient Room Tax was a topic of interest at the Wasatch County Council Meeting on Wednesday afternoon May 1, as County Manager Mike Davis presented the tax funds collected from lodging entities, and more importantly, how that money is spent to increase tourism and bring visitors to the area. The most recent numbers from 2018, has TRT collected at $2.2 million dollars, an increase of 26% from the year before.
Davis said this in his report, “We’ve watched these trends because it’s all associated with the number of visits to the county, and that can go up and down. As we get more hotels online, now we’ve got the hotel that’s being constructed right now up at Brown’s Canyon intersection. This number will go up significantly and as it does those percentages remain the same, but the dollars increase, because of the percentage. So Ryan’s budget is going to increase significantly as that happens and these hotels happen, he’s going to have to market for those hotels.” Davis was referring to the new Fireside Resort, with 250 new units under construction on the north side of the county.
Ryan Starks, Director of the Tourism & Economic Development Office remarked that his budget is very transparent and that he works with the council and his advisory council to develop the marketing plans and yearly budget.
“We receive a slice of the pie, as Mike indicated, and then we make that very transparent through our board. I’ve shared that information with them, the breakdown of where the money goes and I would be happy to do that again.”
Also questioned during the presentation was the tourism marketing budget of $134,000, and the number of individuals on payroll. Peter Ransie, Director of Sales and Marketing at the Zermatt Resort asked the county council to consider increasing the funds allocated to the tourism office to better market the valley, and bring more visitors to the area. Ransie remarked,
“If I read the numbers correctly presented Ryan has about $134,000 in tourism and that’s not enough. So I would ask a question and invite a more formal response if that’s possible. What would Ryan do if the economic development committee and tourism, if instead of $134,000 they had $250,000 or $500,000. It looks like there is flexibility in the budgets. How could that flexibility be applied and what opportunities might we be able to take advantage of the collective economic tourism good of the valley if those budgets were increased.”
At the end of the public comment period, Paul Christensen, General Manager of the Homestead Resort brought up the reserve fund that has over $3 million dollars. In a previous conversation with county councilman Mark Nelson who talked with Christensen about the reserve fund.
“There was roughly like $3 million dollars in the reserve fund total. He was going to tell me how much of that $3 million is in the ⅓ verses the ⅔ and I have still not yet heard that. Could you tell me that. Mike Davis said, Yes, most of the $3 million is in the second component which means it could be used for anything, it could be used for tourism or it could be used for recreation. Christensen replied, “so the 1. 1 it could be used. It is, most of the money could be used for that. Davis agreed. Christensen asked, “Is there a way to find out what the definition of most, I mean do we know exactly how much is in there?”
Mike Davis was asked to provide a copy of his presentation for the public to review for a closer look at the numbers and details of the TRT expenditures.
