Committee to investigate resort tax

By ALEX STRICKLAND - Bigfork Eagle

A subcommittee of the Bigfork Steering Committee met last Tuesday to begin an information-gathering process on what a resort tax would mean for Bigfork.

Headed by the Bigfork Chamber of Commerce, the committee sees itself as a non-advocating, fact-finding body that will be able to educate the BSC and the community to enable an informed decision.

"People are going to look to us to be experts," said Chamber Executive Director Bruce Solberg. "And we're far, far, far from experts."

The meeting last week was effectively the first after an effort earlier this year fizzled in the face of summer obligations.

The committee is drafting a mission statement to present at this week's BSC meeting to solidify their direction and get approval from the Steering Committee to continue along a certain vein.

Questions abound on a possible resort tax, many of which were brought up at Tuesday's meeting. What does it mean for the community? Is there a need for additional revenue? How does it affect businesses? And many, many more.

One of the steps the group is looking to for information is investigating the ups and downs of a resort tax in other communities in the state that have enacted one. Those include Big Sky, West Yellowstone, St. Regis, Red Lodge and Whitefish. Of that group only St. Regis and Big Sky are unincorporated as Bigfork is.

Solberg said the possibilities and challenges for how to enact such a tariff are practically endless, so long as county commissioners and voters approve it. A resort tax could be a six-month tax, a tax only on certain items or only a tax at certain times. The point, Solberg stressed, is that there is a lot to be learned.

No time frame has been set for the committee to produce its findings, but they said they hope to have one soon and eventually publish some sort of informational booklet along the lines of the one produced by the Bigfork School District office to inform the public about the school bond issue currently up for voters' consideration.

"We really need to explore this, beat it up and then tear it down again," said committee member Paul Mutascio who is also the head of the Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork. "We need to see who it effects and how it is administered.

"We need to see what it is and what it isn't."

The Resort Tax subcommittee will present its mission statement and rough goals to the BSC at the Steering committee's regular meeting Thursday, Oct. 11.