DENVER — Three mountain counties will ask voters this November to impose a 2% lodging tax on visitors to their counties starting in 2023.
The measures, if passed, will help Eagle, Summit and Park Counties fund housing projects and childcare for the counties’ workforces. A new state law passed earlier this year allows county governments to use the revenue from lodging taxes to fund those projects, rather than solely spend the money on marketing to promote tourism.
“The state legislature did give us the ability to have a lodging tax. They did cap it at 2%, but we can have a lodging tax and we can take 90% and use it on the things we need,” Park County Commissioner Dick Elsner said. “One of the big things we’re looking at is a way to incentivize or create workforce housing.”
Elsner said short term rentals have rattled the real estate market in Park County, making it next to impossible for those who work in tourism in the mountain community.
“Short term rentals have had a great impact on our county, and I’m not too sure it’s been a good impact on our county,” he said. “Because of the short term rentals, we’ve lost a lot of the inventory of what were rental units that people could live in and work in Park County.”
29 other counties already have lodging taxes, according to Colorado Counties, Inc, an association that represents counties across Colorado.
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