Rock Springs City Council approves the continuation of existing 2% lodging tax

Tanya Baer, [email protected]

Rock Springs-Last night’s City Council meeting was a short meeting but there were still a few things discussed including a resolution to cooperate fully and assist Sweetwater County in taking all actions necessary to support the continuation of the existing county-wide 2% lodging tax. According to the resolution document, leisure and hospitality is a $160 million dollar industry in Sweetwater County that provides over 1,300 full-time and part-time jobs. This tax is not paid by Sweetwater County residents and that was made clear by councilman Rob Zotti, stating, “I would like to take a second to remind everybody that this tax has been in place for a while now, and it’s a tax basically we do not pay it’s a tax paid for by the visitors that come to our community. The funds collected from this are used to promote Sweetwater County. It has been very helpful in bringing events like the Tiffin Rally we had, the National High School Finals Rodeo, many BMX events, and everything else that we see in our community that does help expand our tax base through increased sales tax collection. So, I do encourage everybody to support this one.”

Other items discussed included a resolution to accept and approve the extension of the Fiscal Year 2020 Air Improvement Plan and Cooperative Agreement between Green River and Rock Springs until June 30, 2025. A resolution was accepted to set the sewer rate to $0.05382 per cubic foot beginning July 1, 2022. Another resolution was approved to amend and re-enact resolution 88-25 which declares the intention of the City Council of Rock Springs to establish water rates in the city.

The third reading of three different ordinances took place. One of the topics read was an ordinance amending the official zoning map of Rock Springs from heavy industrial to medium density residential for a chunk of land totaling 59.43 acres near Springs Drive and Mineral Drive. An ordinance amending the official zoning map of Rock Springs from medium-density residential to community business district/conditional district for a piece of land totaling 14.470 acres located near Lombard Drive and I80 was also read.