OCR Text |
Show C-1 B-1 AN EXHIBIT UNFOLDS AT THE KIMBALL EDUCATION, A-5 GAMES GUIDE INSIDE Turn to page D-1 for coverage of the Winter Olympics from a Park City perspective GAMES PUCK DROPS FOR ZAMBONI DRIVER COLUMNS, A-10 Park Record. MAKE SPACE FOR PARK CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT KIDS AMY ROBERTS TAKES ART TO HEART IN A NEW POST The PA R K C I T Y, U TA H W W W. PA R K R E C O R D . C O M Wed/Thurs/Fri, February 7-9, 2018 Serving Summit County since 1880 A tax hike stirs worry for tourism | Eyes on the elk Vol. 138 | No. 1 50¢ The Olympic flame is still ablaze in city State could increase the price of visiting with a new levy CAROLYN WEBBER The Park Record When a city’s economy is based heavily off of visitors coming to empty their pockets, several factors play into making it an ideal destination. Taxes is one of them, and tourism industry leaders are worried that a bill at the Utah State Legislature could drastically affect the appeal of Park City. Bill Malone, president and CEO of the Park City Chamber/Bureau, said that S.B. 136, introduced by the Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force, would increase the state’s transient room tax (TRT) from 0.32 to 3 percent. It would also add a 5 percent increase to rental car taxes. The transient room tax is a tax that cities, counties and states impose on those renting temporary lodging. Funds are typically used for recreation infrastructure, but the money from S.B. 136 would go toward transportation infrastructure. The boost would bring Park City’s total sales tax for lodging to 15.45 percent within the city limits and 12.85 percent in the rest of Summit County. “I believe that this would bring our taxes on overnight stays to one of the highest tax rates of any mountain resort community in the U.S.,” Malone said. Resort towns such as Colorado’s Vail and Steamboat Springs and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, all have lodging sales tax rates that sit between 8 and 11 percent, Malone said. Park City already has a relatively high lodging sales tax of 12.77 percent in city limits, which increased this year with the introduction of the state’s current 0.32 percent transient room tax. Malone said that the prospect of creating an even bigger difference is a major concern to the Chamber/Bureau and the area’s lodging industry. “It just separates us so far from our competition,” he said. “It’s something that is a sticker shock.” Malone said that an increase of that size could make Park City seem less attractive to visitors of all kinds, but the main problem is with those booking hundreds of rooms for conferences or business retreats. For those customers, a 10 percent tax versus a 15-plus percent tax becomes noticeable. “We’re talking potentially thousands of dollars of difference in what the final bill is to the company,” he said. “It definitely is alarming to us.” Chris Eggleton, managing director of Destination Hotels Utah, said that corporate travel is a large source of revenue for Park City and Utah overall. Such a large tax increase for visitors would make the whole state less competitive when conventions are Please see Lodging tax, A-2 4 sections • 38 pages Classifieds .............................. C-8 Columns ............................... A-10 Crossword .............................. C-4 Editorial................................ A-11 Education ............................... A-5 Events Calendar ..................... C-6 Legals ................................... C-11 Letters to the Editor ............. A-11 Restaurant Guide.................... B-6 Scene ...................................... C-1 Scoreboard ............................. B-5 Sports ..................................... B-1 Weather .................................. B-2 TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD Hunter Klingensmith, left, admires a herd of elk with Sallie Rinderknecht during a Winter Wetland Excursion at the Swaner Preserve in the Snyderville Basin on Saturday. The event welcomed a group of 25 people onto the acreage to learn about winter wetland ecology. Officials on a trail to Moab Park City trip plans to learn about social equity efforts in Southern Utah community JAY HAMBURGER The Park Record A group of Park City officials is scheduled to visit Moab on Thursday and Friday to learn about the Southern Utah community’s efforts to advance social equity, an outing that is scheduled as the Marsac Building itself is readying to hold detailed discussions about the broad issue. Mayor Andy Beerman and at least three members of the Park City Council are included in the list of travelers. Seven City Hall staffers led by City Manager Diane Foster are also scheduled to attend. The staffers represent a range of departments, including officials who work in budgeting, recreation, community development, economic development and public safety. Figures from Park City-area not-for-profit organizations with assistance programs, such as the Peace House and the Christian Center of Park City, are also scheduled to attend. The not-for-profits are expected to be heavily involved in City Hall’s discussions about social equity. Park City leaders in recent months have stressed the ideal of social equity, but it remains unclear what sort of policies or programs City Hall could eventually pursue. The leaders say advancing social equity is an important step in a place where certain segments of the community have not enjoyed the same level of economic success as the Park City economy has greatly expanded since the depths of the recession. It seems Park City’s social equity efforts could include issues important to Latinos, senior citizens and other interest groups. Officials could address housing and wages, as examples. The itinerary on Thursday includes a tour of the Moab Valley Multicultural Center, a self-guided tour of facilities like a free health clinic, an arts and recreation center and the public library as well as a dinner with Moab officials. The Friday schedule includes a roundtable discussion focused on social equity. Elected officials from Moab and high-ranking officials from the municipal government there are scheduled to participate. An elementary school principal from Moab is also expected to talk at the roundtable discussion. In an interview, Rhiana Medina, the executive director of the Moab Valley Multicultural Center, said the organization serves approximately 3,000 people per year, mostly from Moab and surrounding Grand County. The center offers a “healthy mix of intervention and prevention programs,” she said, describing walk-in crisis intervention as one. Medina said the programs are especially important since Moab is located far from big cities with more resources. “If it’s not available here, it’s two hours away, at the closest,” she said. Park City has long seen similarities between itself and Moab. Both are heavily reliant on the tourism industry, creating issues like growth, traffic increases and impacts on environmentally sensitive lands. Moab has for years been a base for people visiting the national parks of Southern Utah and others who enjoy the red rock landscape. Both of the communities have also drawn residents from outside of the state, leading to politics that are generally left of mainstream Utah. Park City officials have traveled to other communities on informational trips for years, arguing that policies and programs that are successful elsewhere could be adopted locally. The annual City Tour is an example of that sort of official travel. A panel in Park City on Monday told stories of the 2002 Winter Olympics and discussed the prospects of a bid for a second Games. The panelists included people who held important roles in the Games of 2002 or would be expected to be heavily involved in another bid. From left: Mayor Andy Beerman, Bill Malone, who is the president and CEO of the Park City Chamber/Bureau, former Mayor Brad Olch, Colin Hilton, who worked for the Olympic organizing committee in 2002, and Myles Rademan, a former City Hall staffer who was one of the municipal government’s lead organizers in 2002. Parkites gather to talk of the Games during an important week for potential bid JAY HAMBURGER The Park Record If the Winter Olympics return to Salt Lake City, there would be athletes on the slopes of Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley Resort as well as the bobsled track and ski jumps of the Utah Olympic Park. A member of the Olympic Exploratory Committee, the group considering whether a bid should be mounted for a second Olympics, told a crowd in Park City on Monday night each of the venues that hosted events during the 2002 Winter Olympics want to be part of the program in a future Games. Colin Hilton, the president and CEO of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, an organization that now manages some of the Games venues, made the comments during a gathering at the Santy Auditorium at the Park City Library centered on Park City’s Olympic legacy, the possibility of another Games and the upcoming Olympics in South Korea. Hilton is an important figure in the state Olympic efforts and was a high-ranking staffer in the organizing committee for the Games in 2002. Hilton said the Olympic Exploratory Committee secured signed letters from each of the venues from 2002 signaling their interest in hosting competitions in another Games. There did not appear to be resistance at PCMR and Deer Valley Resort regarding hosting events in a second Olympics, but Hilton’s statement was important nonetheless since it provided an official acknowledgment that Park City’s role in a potential bid package would be consequential, as it was as when the Games in 2002 Please see Olympics, A-2 The Coalville forecast calls for an award Margaret Bowman is honored for years of weather observations ANGELIQUE MCNAUGHTON The Park Record Margaret Bowman hadn’t realized her daily weather observations were worthy of recognition until the National Weather Service of Salt Lake City notified her that she had been selected to receive a national award. Bowman and her late husband, Dwain, began recording the temperature and water precipitation from their home in Coalville in 1987 and never missed a day. Rain, snow or sunshine, the Bowmans tracked the weather and submitted their observations for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s Cooperative Observer Program. Bowman, 88, was awarded the John Campanius Holm Award on Feb. 2 in front of her friends and family at her home. The award is one of the agency’s most prestigious recognitions, with only 25 given out each year among nearly 10,000 volunteers nationwide. “I was very surprised,” Bowman said. “I didn’t think for a minute they would have five people come out here, let alone all my friends and family. I really appreciated it.” The National Weather Service’s Cooperative Observer Program requires volunteers across the county to record daily maximum and minimum temperatures, precipitation, snowfall and snow depth. The award is named after John Campanius Holm, who was a Lutheran minister and the first person known to have taken systematic weather observations for the American colonies, according to a press release. The Coalville Observer Network Please see An award, A-2 TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD Lisa Verzella, who is a National Weather Service observations program leader, left, Randy Graham, the service’s meteorologist in charge, and Grant Cooper, right, the Western region director of the National Weather Service, present Coalville resident Margaret Bowman with an award at her home on Feb. 2. She was recognized for her daily weather observations over the last 30 years. VISITOR GUIDE Root for Team USA at Park City’s WinterFest Team USA Brings Olympic Spirit to Park City with WinterFest Celebration from 1-7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 10, at the Main Street Garage, 825 Main St. The Team USA WinterFest tour presented by Hershey’s will make its stop on Main Street between 7th and 9th avenues. |