Resort tax bump brings in extra $153k

Whitefish took in an additional $153,000 in July after the city’s resort tax increased by 1 percent starting that month.

The city collected a total of about $460,000 during the summer month. The 3 percent tax is collected at restaurants and bars, retail shops and lodging establishments.

Subtracting out the increase in the dollar amount from the 1 percent increase in the tax, however, collections were actually down slightly from the previous year. July 2014 collections totaled $307,000, which is only $942 more than this year’s July figure without the additional 1 percent.

Voters in May approved an increase in the tax from 2 to 3 percent to back a conservation easement. The additional funds raised by the 1 percent will go toward a $20.6 million land deal with F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co. to protect 3,000 acres in the Haskill Basin watershed. The city will contribute about $8 million toward the conservation easement.

Collections from the tax are used for street reconstruction, property-tax rebates for city property owners and for city parks.