JACKSON, Wyo. — July 1 marks the start of the fiscal year for the Town of Jackson and Teton County and future funding streams are top of mind as the Town tries to remedy a nearly $4 million FY24 deficit and the County aims to raise $88 million for a new Justice Center.
The Town Council and County Commissioners met on July 1 for a joint information meeting to discuss and negotiate joint revenue streams and the proposed 1% SPET ballot initiative for a new Justice Center proposed by the County. State statute requires the Town’s approval of the proposition for it to appear on the Nov. 5 ballot, with a deadline of July 17 for all ballot initiatives to be finalized.
Mayor Hailey Morton Levinson spoke on behalf of the Town Council, explaining the Town’s rationale in proposing a restructured funding split for the next 10 years, for jointly funded departments, which include START, Fire/EMS and Parks & Rec, and a ballot initiative to increase the Lodging Tax by 2%, in exchange for approving the 1% SPET.
“Basically, the Town is looking at a shortfall of about $4 million to maintain and address our core services, year over year,” Morton Levinson said. “You guys presented the 60/40 and we looked at the revenue equation and in the most recent audited numbers the Town is at 32% and County is at 68%. We wanted to meet you closer to 60/40 so landed on 65/35 and that would get us around $2 million more per year with that split.”
Morton Levinson noted that a Lodging Tax increase of 2% “only affects visitors” and increases the Town’s revenue by $2 million, getting the Town closer to shoring up the $4 million deficit.
Currently, the County pays 54% and the Town pays 46% to fund joint services. The County would be essentially picking up an extra $2 million tab per year.
“All of us support the SPET in exchange for the split change,” Morton Levinson said, noting that the Lodging Tax proposal should be seen as a separate item.
In an attempt to “contextualize the conversation,” Councilmember Jim Rooks posed the question, “What financial responsibility does Teton County have to the residents of the Town of Jackson, which happens to be in Teton County?”
“I personally think it’s some [financial responsibility], I don’t think it’s a lot,” Rooks said. “On a 65/35 split, that equates to $195 [more from the county] per resident of the Town of Jackson, for a 60/40 it is $106 per resident.”
Commission Chair Luther Propst and Commissioner Greg Epstein shared sentiments that were less supportive of the Lodging Tax ballot initiative.
Propst said he had “deep reservations” about adding a 2% Lodging Tax increase to the ballot, not because he is necessarily opposed, but that asking voters for a second tax increase could sink both initiatives.
“I’ve seen from the anti-growth faction in our community that more promotion is not something they are interested in,” Propst said. “It concerns me that we would put two taxes on the ballot. I think that’s a recipe for losing both of these measures and then both bodies are in deep [financial] trouble after that.”
Epstein called it “tone-deaf” to ask voters to approve two tax initiatives when inflation and interest rates remain so high, calling it “insensitive to what’s actually going on out there in the real world.”
The Wyoming Legislature implemented a statewide Lodging Tax in 2020 at a rate of 5%, with 3% sent to the Wyoming Office of Tourism and 2% staying in the respective county. In Teton County, that 2% is divided with the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board, with 60% allocated to visitor management and marketing, 30% for visitor impacts and 10% unrestricted for the Town and County to split.
Before the state implemented Lodging Tax, the County collected a voter-approved 2% lodging tax, which appeared on the ballot every four years.
The Town does not need approval from the County if they want to just implement an additional 2% tax on Town lodging properties, but voters would still need to approve it.
With three members of the Commission – Propst, Epstein and Natalia Macker – not fully supportive of asking voters for a Lodging Tax increase, the conversation shifted to nailing down the split for SPET contingency.
Macker said that a split of 65/35 would need to be contingent on the SPET initiative passing, and would consider a 60/40 split that is not contingent on the SPET passing, if it was phased in over three years at 2% each, with governance shifts over joint departments once the split hits 60% for the County.
What that governance shift looks like in terms of joint decision-making for joint departments is yet to be determined, but Macker said, “My position is it’s not, ‘business as usual’ if the County is chipping in 65%.”
Macker’s comments about the split being contingent on the SPET passing were supported by her fellow commissioners, while some Town Councilors could get behind the multi-year phase-in approach.
Mayor Morton Levinson spoke again on behalf of the Town, discussing the decisions left on the table. “We, the Town, appreciate that the County is considering helping us in our split, and we are considering helping you with the SPET, because we could say no to the SPET and go do our own Town tax and we wouldn’t need you to say yes to that and we would get more money. We are coming to this in good faith. I just want to say that this is ultimately what the Town’s backstop would be. We want to have the SPET because we know it’s important [to the County] and our budget is just as important.”
Through lengthy discussions and input from the Town attorney and other staff members, the Town and County landed on three options they would like to further explore, at a July 8 joint information meeting currently planned for 1:30 p.m.
Both the Town and County directed staff to draft three documents:
- The final joint resolution for a 1% SPET for the Teton County Justice Center.
- Language changing the Town and County joint department/division funding split for operations and capital to the Town paying 35% and the County pay 65% for a period of 10 years starting July 2025.
- Language changing the Town and County joint department funding split to the Town pays 40% and the County pays 60%, a period of 2 fiscal years and 3% per year.
The County plans to meet on Monday, July 8, prior to the joint information meeting to come to a consensus.
