The town of Gardiner, Montana, is an unincorporated town of roughly 975 year-round residents at the original entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Most of the year, Gardiner is a quiet town with a strong western heritage, a thriving community, and tremendous wildlife-watching opportunities. In the summer, Gardiner hosts nearly one million park visitors.

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The Gardiner Resort Area and a 3% resort tax were approved by qualified electors on April 8, 2014 and became effective on June 1, 2014. The Gardiner Resort Area District was approved by the qualified electors on May 5, 2015 and members of the Board of Directors were elected by the qualified electors on November 3, 2015.

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The tax is collected from June 1 to September 30. Funds are used for property tax relief, community services, cultural grants, community infrastructure, and visitor services. For each year until 2034, the tax will be split into 5% for property tax relief, 5% to rebate fees that that appear on the property tax bill (equal amounts to each tax payer), 5% to a Community Services and Cultural grant account, 5% to fund the operational expenses of the resort tax, 15% to a Visitor Center capital grant account which will revert to the general infrastructure account listed above once the visitor center is fully funded, 10% to a Visitor Center operations and maintenance account, 5% reimbursement of administrative fee to establishments, and 50% to an infrastructure and community development grant account.

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An additional 1% was approved by qualified electors on December 8th, 2020 and will become effective on all reservations for June 1 – Sep 30 taken on and after January 1st, 2021. For non-lodging taxable items and services, the 4%  new rate of tax applies as of June 1, 2021. This tax will be applied until the infrastructure project is complete or until 2030, whichever comes first.

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Gardiner Resort Tax is to be collected on all applicable SALES. This is NOT an income tax that you may subtract losses from. Sales occurring in early June before the flood are to be reported as such, taxes collected and remitted as usual. While the District sympathizes with the entire community regarding our losses, the Ordinance needs to be complied with.