Council approves ballot initiative to allocate some resort tax funding for housing

Last week, the Whitefish City Council adopted the ballot language and the ballot initiative to allocate 10% of the city’s resort tax toward affordable housing.

The plan is called Community Housing: Resort Tax and it designates 10% of the 3% resort tax to be used specifically for community housing projects and programs beginning in February 2025.

If voters give it the thumbs up, over the course of 20 years with the resort tax in effect, $27 million dollars will be spent on affordable housing initiatives. Those include housing developments and programs such as rental and down payment assistance.

At the beginning of 2025, the Haskill Basin Conservation Easement will be paid off, freeing up a portion of the 3% resort tax funds. This money will assure that all the departments that share the funds will see an increase, regardless of the vote.

“In fact, streets, parks, paths and the Whitefish Trail will all continue to see increased funding based on the sunset of the bond,” said Whitefish City Manager Dana Smith.

The allocation that will be presented to the voters is 25% for property tax relief, 48% for streets, 10% for community housing initiatives, 10% for bike and pedestrian paths and parks, 2% for the Whitefish Trail and 5% for merchants’ administrative costs. The wording on the ballot goes into greater detail.

Five citizens spoke during public comment. Four favored the initiative, including Daniel Sidder, the executive director of Housing Whitefish, and Leanette Galaz, representing Shelter WF and United Today Stronger Tomorrow.

“We’re here to support the plan as proposed. A lot of hard work went into this,” Sidder said. “I think the community is ready to start raising some money and spending some money on community housing.

“I totally support this, without a doubt,” said local business owner Ed Docter. “Can't wait to see it on the ballot.”

Ann Moran, a local property manager, expressed concerns about the sustainability of the plan.

“The only way… to reduce costs and create affordable housing is if you offset or reverse the things that cause it to be expensive in the first place,” Moran said. “You can’t fix the market… but you can be mindful for whether that money is being spent to ultimately make it more efficient for everybody in this town.”

Councilor Frank Sweeney addressed Moran’s concerns in his comments.

“Keep in mind that, even with this reallocation, as a result of going to 3%, the amount of money that we’re going to use for infrastructure support is actually going up not insignificantly,” Sweeney said. “What we’re talking about here is a reallocation from paying for Haskill Basin to supporting in some small measure some community housing.”

Councilor Steve Quell moved to approve the initiative and said he’s been advocating for solutions for the housing crisis for a long time.

“This is a great first start and I'm glad to see we’re finally moving forward with this,” said Qunell.

Voters will be asked to vote on the “Community Housing: Resort Tax” plan in the November 2023 municipal election.

Weeks ago, after in-depth discussions and review over the last several months, both the Resort Tax Monitoring Committee and the Whitefish Community Housing Committee approved the plan and recommended its adoption by the city council. City staff recommended the plan as well.

Whitefish’s 3% resort tax is collected on “luxury” retail sales, lodging, at restaurants and for prepared food and alcoholic beverages. Funds generated from the 3% tax go to property tax relief, streets, parks and trails.

Last year, the Whitefish Housing Needs Assessment noted that the city needs 1,310 new housing units by 2030, 75% of which need to be priced below market rate to meet the needs of the community. The Housing Roadmap was adopted to assist in meeting this goal.

Securing local funding for housing initiatives by asking for the reallocation is a top priority of the Housing Roadmap. Other options to fund community housing include grants, philanthropic contributions and business community buy-in.

Should voters fail to pass the ballot item allocating 10% to community housing, in February of 2025, the use of the resort tax will adhere to what the voters approved in 2021 which does not allocate any funding toward housing.