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Parks & Recreation and tourism leaders report rising visitation and discuss state TRT change, 3 Peaks impacts
Summary
County parks and tourism staff told commissioners visitation and lodging bookings rose around a high-school mountain-bike championship, reported increases in revenue and occupancy year over year, described planned park improvements and flagged a state change to the transient room tax that could add a county option for search-and-rescue funding.
Parks and recreation and tourism staff updated the Iron County Commission on event impacts, park projects and changes in transient room tax (TRT) rules at the March 2025 meeting.
Parks & Recreation reported plans to mitigate neighbor impacts from a high-school mountain-bike championship that previously blocked at least one driveway and caused property concerns. Staff are coordinating with public works to extend pavement into the park and shift the race start further inside county grounds so stages and parking do not block adjacent driveways. Parks staff said the county and partners are working to preserve the race because of its economic impact.
The parks report included use and revenue figures tied to recent events: staff said more than 13,000 people attended activity at 3 Peaks during the race period and that lodging bookings during that timeframe totaled about $880,000. Parks revenue was described as rising from “a little over $12,000” in 2023 to “a little over $15,000” in 2024, a change staff attributed in part to on-site QR-code payment stations. Parks staff also outlined projects including extended season dates for the 5 Mile facility (opening May 1, planned grand opening to be scheduled), prescribed burning with the State Forestry Fire Crew and construction of an ATV trailhead at 3 Peaks.
Tourism staff said county TRT (room-tax) collections finished the prior year about 11% higher than the same point in 2023; restaurant-tax collections were slightly up, occupancy and average daily rate were each about 3% higher year over year. The tourism advisory board recommended more than $300,000 in partner funding and roughly $65,000 for special-event marketing, according to staff. The commission heard that restaurant-tax funds were used to pay off early an outstanding obligation to Cedar City for the Cross Hollows event center and that recommended allocations include trail improvements (BLM/Forest Service), airport marketing and support for local events including Shakespeare Festival and the Utah Summer Games.
Staff also briefed commissioners on a state legislative action that increased the statewide TRT by 0.75 percentage points. Of that increase, staff said, 0.25 percentage points will go to a new state mitigation fund for search and rescue and 0.5 percentage points will go into a state infrastructure pool. Counties may opt to add 0.25 percentage points locally to access the search-and-rescue grant program; staff said Iron County had not decided to adopt the additional county rate and described unanswered questions about how the new state fund will be administered and how grant awards will be allocated.
No formal commission action was required on the reports; commissioners asked staff to continue coordination with affected neighbors, public-works staff and event organizers.
