Voluntary tax group to include more businesses

The group that formed the Bigfork Enhancement Contribution is looking to branch out from the downtown area and include businesses on Montana Highway 35.

The Bigfork Enhancement Contribution had its trial run this summer, as many local merchants and businesses downtown opted to either pay a flat fee of $250 for the year or add a 1 percent voluntary tax on their customers' bills. The money raised is intended to go to promote Bigfork as a whole. This program went into place after efforts to pursue a resort tax in Bigfork were unsuccessful.

The contribution was originally organized by a subcommittee of the Bigfork Steering Committee. They looked to find business owners this fall to form a committee to hand it off to. They've found several people, but are still looking for others, particularly who are not from downtown to join, said Cheryl Richmond chair of the subcommittee.

"Right now we are still a transitional committee," Richmond said.

At a recent meeting, the group decided it was important to broaden their scope to get more businesses involved, including businesses outside of downtown, Richmond said.

The group has made some progress since this fall including drafting bylaws, getting a tax identification number and working to set up a bank account, she said. They've been meeting monthly.

Richmond, who owns the Sleeping Bear Lodge, is working to get other lodging places on board with doing the voluntary tourism tax in time for the summer season. The Sleeping Bear and the Bridge Street Cottages both successfully tried out the 1 percent voluntary tax last summer.

One of the things the group is looking at is a proposal to increase the flat fee to $400 payable in two payments. That has yet to be voted on, Richmond said.

The number of businesses that contributed the flat fee for 2009 is yet to be determined, as a few fees are still coming in or being followed up on, Richmond said.

None of the money collected in 2009 has been spent yet, Richmond said, as the group was waiting on organizing its finances and checking on outstanding contributions.

Richmond will be gone for a month, but work on the contribution will continue when she returns this spring.

For more information or to get involved in the new committee, contact Richmond at montana.cheryl@gmail.com.