At the behest of City Council President Rick Davis, the Hailey City Council has scheduled a workshop to discuss whether a local option tax ballot measure should be brought before Hailey voters in November. The special meeting is scheduled for Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at city hall.
In August 2004 the City Council established exploration of a local option tax as one of its goals for the city. The Hailey Chamber of Commerce surveyed its membership to determine support or opposition to the tax. In September the chamber held a Local Option Tax Forum at the Community Campus, bringing together a diverse group of community leaders to discuss the issue.
Council members will review the results of the chamber survey, the minutes of the forum and financial research reports from the Idaho State Tax Commission, which review Blaine County industries and the LOT tax revenue categories for the cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley upon which taxes are collected.
"These reports are intended to give the city council information from which to base the discussion..." said Hailey City Clerk Heather Dawson. "There are no avenues by which we can gather information solely on Hailey sales other than by direct research of each Hailey business."
On the agenda for the meeting is a discussion of five points, which are required elements of a local option tax ordinance. The council will need to determine whether or not Hailey has a tourist-based economy, what the city's taxable sources should be and a tax rate applicable to each source.
The council will also discuss the duration of the tax and the purpose of collecting the tax.
