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State auditor walks board through TRT reporting form as members debate visitor definition and SAR/EMS reimbursement
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Summary
The Division of Outdoor Recreation advisory board reviewed the state auditor's transient room tax reporting form and discussed administrative rules and a draft mitigation grant application, focusing on how to define "visitor," whether to require documented actual costs for search-and-rescue/EMS reimbursements, and the role of county tourism advisory boards.
SALT LAKE CITY ' The Division of Outdoor Recreation's advisory board on Thursday reviewed the Utah State Auditor's county transient room tax (TRT) reporting form and discussed final changes to administrative rules and a draft grant application meant to reimburse visitor-related public-safety and infrastructure costs.
Seth Ovidson of the Utah State Auditor's Office walked the group through the Excel reporting form, showing fields for transient room tax collections, carryover, and mitigation categories such as search-and-rescue, law enforcement, solid waste and emergency medical services. "This is the report that is statutorily required, and we do the enforcement for it," Ovidson said as he described how counties submit the form and how the auditor's office plans to move it to an electronic web form later this year.
Board members raised multiple practical questions for the grant application and scoring matrix. A central issue was how to define "visitor" for eligibility and prioritization; Selena Sinclair of the Utah Tourism Industry Association recommended relying on the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute's traveler definitions used in statewide reports, noting the institute classifies resident travelers as Utahns traveling at least 50 miles from home and nonresident travelers as domestic and international visitors. "That definition comes from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah," Sinclair said, and the board agreed the division could pull the Gardner county-level statistics rather than requiring applicants to generate their own visitor counts.
Another major debate focused on reimbursing search-and-rescue (SAR) and emergency medical services (EMS). Some members, including Sheriff Tracy Glover of Kane County, pressed for applicants to submit verifiable, actual costs tied to callouts (payroll, fuel, hours and related expenses), while legal and audit staff cautioned that state auditors need documentary proof of costs. Glover suggested a three-tier visitor test (in-county, in-state/out-of-county, out-of-state) as one way to classify callouts; "someone from the county, someone from outside of the county but inside the state, and then someone from out of state," she said.
Officials debated alternatives such as using an agency-level median hourly rate or a statewide average. Nicole (division counsel) warned standardized averages could be difficult to justify in audits if they do not reflect actual expenses. Several sheriffs urged the program favor documented operational costs first, with training and equipment ranked beneath operational reimbursements in any weighting system.
The board also addressed practical accounting questions: whether the auditor's form should include total departmental budgets or only the portion paid with TRT dollars (Ovidson said the current form records TRT dollars but the office could add fields for total departmental costs), how to avoid duplicate reimbursement from other state or federal grants, and whether to accept depreciation and equipment rates from existing sources. Members proposed using established FFSL equipment daily/hourly rates and cooperative-agreement schedules to capture depreciation and wear-and-tear for heavy equipment and drones.
On governance, members discussed whether county Tourism Tax Advisory Boards (TTABs) should provide letters of support for applications. The board generally favored an acknowledgement that a TTAB reviewed an application rather than making a letter of support a hard requirement that could block funding; members emphasized county commissions retain final authority over TRT allocations.
Division staff said they plan to revise the draft application to reduce redundancy with the auditor's reporting form, add clearer guidance on allowable costs (personnel wages/benefits, fuel, equipment depreciation, training) and request documentation of other grants so reimbursements do not duplicate existing funding. Staff also said they expect to schedule a public hearing on the administrative rule filing and aim to publish materials and a one-page resource for counties; the division noted the grant cycle dates are planned for July 15'Aug. 31.
The advisory board did not take a final vote on the rule or application in the meeting; staff will circulate revisions and convene additional meetings before the application is released.
