Purposes of transient room tax and expenditure of revenue -- Purchase or lease of facilities -- Mitigating impacts of recreation, tourism, or conventions -- Issuance of bonds.
Utah Code § 17-78-702
in effect17-78-702. Purposes of transient room tax and expenditure of revenue -- Purchase or lease of facilities -- Mitigating impacts of recreation, tourism, or conventions -- Issuance of bonds.
(1) Subject to the requirements of this section, a county legislative body may impose the transient room tax for a purpose described in Subsection (2).
(2) A county legislative body may expend revenue generated by the transient room tax imposed under this section only:
(a) for the purpose of establishing and promoting:
(i) tourism;
(ii) recreation;
(iii) film production; or
(iv) conventions;
(b) to pay for tourism- or recreation-related facilities in the county, including acquiring, leasing, constructing, furnishing, maintaining, or operating:
(i) convention meeting rooms;
(ii) exhibit halls;
(iii) visitor information centers;
(iv) museums;
(v) sports and recreation facilities including practice fields, stadiums, arenas, and trails;
(vi) the following on any route to a recreation destination within the county, as designated by the county legislative body:
(A) transit service, including shuttle service; and
(B) parking infrastructure; and
(vii) an airport, if the county is the airport operator of the airport;
(c) for the purpose of acquiring land, leasing land, or making payments for construction or infrastructure improvements required for or related to the facilities listed in Subsection (2)(b);
(d) to pay mitigation costs, specifically:
(i) solid waste disposal operations;
(ii) emergency medical services;
(iii) search and rescue activities;
(iv) law enforcement activities; and
(v) road repair and upgrade of:
(A) class B roads, as defined in Section 72-3-103;
(B) class C roads, as defined in Section 72-3-104; or
(C) class D roads, as defined in Section 72-3-105; and
(e) to make the annual payment of principal, interest, premiums, and necessary reserves for any of the aggregate of bonds authorized under Subsection (3).
(3) The county legislative body may issue bonds or cause bonds to be issued, as permitted by law, to pay all or part of any costs incurred for the purposes set forth in Subsections (2)(b) through (2)(d) that are permitted to be paid from bond proceeds.
(4)
(a) Activity described in Subsection (2)(a) is exclusive of activity described in Subsection (2)(b) or (c).
(b) A county may not distribute revenue generated by the transient room tax imposed under this section to a large public transit district, as that term is defined in Section 17B-2a-802.
(5) A county that generates $1 million or more in revenue from a transient room tax imposed under this section in the preceding calendar year:
(a) shall expend, at a minimum, the revenue the county generates from the first 2% of the tax rate of a transient room tax on a purpose described in Subsection (2)(a); and
(b) may expend the remainder of the revenue the county generates from a transient room tax on any purpose described in Subsection (2).
(6) A county that generates $500,000 or more but less than $1 million in revenue from a transient room tax imposed under this section in the preceding calendar year:
(a) shall expend, at a minimum, the revenue the county generates from the first 1% of the tax rate of a transient room tax on a purpose described in Subsection (2)(a); and
(b) may expend the remainder of the revenue the county generates from a transient room tax on any purpose described in Subsection (2).
(7) A county that is not described in Subsection (5) or (6) may expend the revenue the county generates from a transient room tax on any purpose described in Subsection (2).
(8) The legislative body of a county may cause revenue generated by a transient room tax to be expended by a municipality within the county if:
(a) the revenue the county shares with the municipality is not required to be spent by the county for a purpose described in Subsection (2)(a);
(b) the county and municipality enter into an interlocal agreement:
(i) governing the use of the revenue; and
(ii) requiring the municipality to report the municipality's expenditures of the revenue to the county; and
(c) the municipality receiving revenue generated by the county's transient room tax agrees to and expends the revenue for a purpose described in Subsection (2).
Renumbered and Amended by Chapter 14, 2025 Special Session 1
Source: Utah Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel (le.utah.gov)URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title17/Chapter78/17-78-S702.html?v=C17-78-S702_2025110620251206Fetched: 10/26/2026