Uintah County adopts 0.25% transient room tax to help pay search-and-rescue, tourism costs

The Uintah County Commission voted June 24, 2025, to adopt an ordinance adding a 0.25% transient room tax, a change officials said will let the county seek and receive state-administered TRT funds to help cover the cost of out-of-county search-and-rescue operations and to support tourism-related mitigation.

The ordinance cites recent action by the Utah Legislature amending Utah Code 59-12-301 through HB 456 to authorize counties of the second through sixth class to impose a transient room tax on accommodations and related services. The county resolution says Uintah County, described in the ordinance as a fourth-class county, desires to impose the additional quarter-percent “in order to promote tourism and mitigate the impacts of recreation and visitor use.”

Alicia Colthorp and Steve Labrum presented the ordinance to the commission. Colthorp told the commission the county sought public input in recent weeks, presented at community meetings, posted the proposal on Facebook and emailed tourism partners and hotels; she said she had not received public concerns. A county staff member who commented during discussion summarized how the funding could be used: “It’s for nonresidents of Utah County. If they come to our county and get lost or whatever and we gotta go rescue, then we can put in monies to recover what we spend on the search.”

Commission members clarified timing for implementation. A county official said the ordinance must be adopted by July 1 for the change to appear on the next quarter; the Utah State Tax Commission requires 90 days’ notice before it begins collecting a new county TRT. The county official said the tax is effective July 1, 2025, as to adoption, but collection of the quarter-percent will not begin until Oct. 1, 2025, to accommodate the Tax Commission’s notice period.

Commission discussion included budgetary context and local rescue costs. One commissioner said county search-and-rescue has spent “$49,000-plus in the last three years” responding to rescues that the county could now seek to recover from state-administered TRT funds. Commissioners also noted they had not received objections from local lodging partners and said many other Utah counties are expected to enact the same additional quarter-percent.

The commission approved Ordinance No. 06-24-2025-01 as presented. The motion passed with affirmative votes recorded; no nay votes were recorded in the meeting transcript.

The ordinance lists additional uses for the TRT funds beyond search-and-rescue reimbursement; those uses appear in the ordinance language presented during the meeting. The county will submit the required notice to the Utah State Tax Commission and begin collection of the quarter-percent on Oct. 1, 2025.

The commission moved on to other agenda items after the vote.