| August 13, 2009
Commissioners, public discuss possible resort tax application in Polson
Berl Tiskus
Valley Journal
POLSON — Billed as a discussion on a proposed resort tax, the workshop meeting held by the Polson City Commission on Aug. 10 at 6 p.m. lived up to its name.
City Manager Todd Crossett guided the Polson City Commissioners and about 19 community members through the resort tax ordinance used by Whitefish. Just for the sake of the discussion, they said the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes agreed to the resort tax idea. In reality Crosset said talks with the tribes are ongoing.
Crossett pointed out that the Whitefish ordinance was just a starting point.
(To see a copy of the Whitefish ordinance go to www.whitefish.govoffice.com, click on ordinances on the left hand side, then click where it says to click for city ordinances, select title 3 and go to chapter 3, which is the resort tax.)
The group discussed the rate of tax and the duration of the tax. Whitefish and Red Lodge, both resort towns, charge 3 percent tax according to research done by Crossett. By a show of hands, most people at the workshop thought a rate of 3 percent was okay. Most commissioners and community members thought 10 years was a fair time to run the tax and gather statistics before it was voted on again.
Next Crossett asked for discussion on what percentage of the tax collected should be used for property tax relief. Whitefish had designated 25 percent of its resort tax go toward property tax relief. After discussion, the group voted on 5 percent. Later, the group returned to the issue and changed their answer to 20 percent to give Polson residents a reason to vote for the tax.
Next Crossett said, “We’ll dig into one of the most difficult issues — exemptions.”
Exempting just Polson residents, people whose driver’s license said Polson, Lake County citizens and Sanders County residents were all discussed.
Local business people brought up the difficulty retailers would have with keeping track of exemptions to the tax.
The group’s consensus was to tax everyone, except people who are legally exempted, such as Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal members who live on this reservation.
The group also thought keeping the tax in place all year was reasonable since it is a resort town tax and would not just tax the people who don’t live here.
Exempt and non-exempt goods and services were also discussed. Audience members asked about items that did not make sense to them, such as clothing, flowers, second hand stores and mail order and catalog sales being non-exempt and gambling revenues and gasoline being exempt.
Community resident Dick Blumberg asked if the commissioners or Crossett has some idea of how much money the resort tax would raise.
Bozeman raised $3 million according to Commissioner Mike Lies. Mayor Lou Marchello said he thought the amount Whitefish brought in was in excess of $1,300,000.
The point was made that Polson is not Bozeman or Whitefish. However, Crossett said if only $10,000 is raised that’s better than nothing.
The commissioners and Crossett were questioned about the haste in which this draft resolution is being prepared.
Mayor Marchello said, “We’ve been working on this for five or six years. … Now’s our opportunity.”
Crossett said a local option tax was in front of the state legislature this year and failed. Apparently there is not much hope of it ever passing.
The fact that the census will be taken in 2010, and Polson’s population might be over 5,500 people was also brought up. A resort tax cannot be levied on a community with a population of over 5,500.
In order to give the idea maximum exposure, a public hearing on the redrafted resolution for a resort tax will be held on Monday, Aug. 17 at 6:30 p.m.
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