Bighorn River Resort Tax FAQs
We aim to provide clear and concise information about the tax and its potential impact on our area. Contact us if you have any questions.
What is a Resort Tax?
A Resort Tax is a tool created by the State of Montana to help communities mitigate the effects of tourism on their communities. It is a sales tax collected against the sale of tourism activities. This is not a tax collected against businesses but a sales tax collected from visitors to our area that use our services. The tax collected within a designated Resort Area District, by the people that conduct business there, comes directly back to that District, to be distributed via a local, elected board on community projects.
How can the Resort Tax be used?
The money collected via the Resort Tax would be used on projects that benefit the communities and community members within the Resort Area District. Some examples are: road maintenance, police force, infrastructure projects, garbage collection, fire protection...
Why do we need a Resort Tax to pay for services that we already pay for via property tax?
The Bighorn County Commissioners do use our property tax money to pay for services such as road maintenance, police service, and fire protection. However, the money collected falls short when it comes to providing quality service, especially since we are so far from Hardin. We are currently working on meeting with the Commissioners to determine exactly what we are getting (or not getting) from our property tax dollars. We could use Resort Tax monies to leverage our property tax dollars to get better service from Big Horn County.
Police Force:
According to the Big Horn County Sherrif, our County Commissioners have continually made budget cuts that decrease the number of deputies that can be hired to protect us. We are now down to only three deputies for the entire Bighorn County, one of the largest counties in Montana. The Commissioners also recently sold the deputy's house in Fort Smith that was used for housing, making it challenging to have a continued enforcement presence here. Currently, deputies are required to visit Fort Smith once per day. This is not enough during our summer season when there is continued vandalism and theft in fishing access site parking lots, and excessive speeding on hwy 313. The Resort Tax could be used to fund a deputy position as well as to rent or purchase housing for them.
Who is responsible for collecting the Resort Tax?
Any business or entity that sells tourism activities and products within the Resort Area District. These monies would then be submitted to the Resort Area District Board on a quarterly basis. The collectors of the tax are permitted to keep 5% of the money they collect to pay for their administration.
How is the Resort Tax distributed to the community?
The Board would be responsible for determining how the funds are distributed. The Board can contract with service providers. The Board could also have an application system available to entities who have uses for the funds.
How will the collection of the Resort Tax be enforced especially in the case of businesses that operate within the Resort Area District but have addresses outside of the District?
All businesses and rentals that operate within the Resort Area District would be required to register with the Board at the beginning of the calendar year. The Board will most likely contract with a bookkeeper who would be responsible for receiving and keeping track of tax monies, late payments, missed payments, and delinquencies. In the case of entities that are required to collect the tax but aren't, legal action and or fines would be taken against them.
What percentage of tax would be collected?
There are two separate taxes that could be collected. The first is a 3% tax that could be used for any of the reasons mentioned above. The second is a 1% tax that can only be used for specific infrastructure projects. These two taxes need to be approved by vote of greater than 50% of votes received from qualified electors in an election to be held in the fall of 2025. The community needs to decide exactly which activities and services to collect this tax against prior to the ballots being mailed out.