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San Miguel County to reimburse lodging-tax treasurer's fee for 2026 via end-of-year refund
Summary
The board agreed to a one-year approach to mitigate the state-collected lodging-tax 1% treasurer's fee by reimbursing marketing pass-through organizations at year-end for 2026; staff estimated the reimbursement could total roughly $100,000 to $130,000 annually and described the operational mechanics.
San Miguel County commissioners directed staff Jan. 7 to make an end-of-year reimbursement to two organizations for the 1% treasurer's fee assessed on state-collected lodging-tax remittances for funds collected in unincorporated county areas.
County manager Mike Bordonia briefed the board on a request from the lodging-tax panel (filed by John Duncan) asking that the county waive or reimburse the 1% treasurer's fee on lodging-tax remittances that the state collects and sends to local marketing organizations. Bordonia said Treasurer Brandy Hatfield indicated she did not oppose refunding the fees for this type of state-collected remittance and recommended doing so for 2026 only because of the mechanics required to change the treasurer's accounting system.
Bordonia and staff explained their recommended mechanism: retain the existing collection process and then, at the final collection for the year (the county receives these amounts about two months in arrears), remit the total of the 1% fees back to the two recipient organizations from the general fund. Staff estimated the aggregate annual reimbursements would likely fall between about $100,000 and $130,000 (a county estimate based on recent collections), and emphasized the reimbursement could be revisited in future budget cycles.
After discussion about past practice and the administrative implications, the board voted unanimously to direct staff to reimburse the treasurer's fees collected in 2026 via an end-of-year general-fund transfer to those marketing organizations.
