Blaine County says ‘no’ to tax to pay minimum revenue guarantees to airlines

Voters in Wood River Valley cities showed support Tuesday for a proposed new tax to support commercial air service, but not enough to make it law. Express file photo

A local-option tax for minimum revenue guarantees for commercial air service failed in two cities Tuesday, as voters failed to give the measure the 60 percent of the vote needed under state law.

The cities of Sun Valley, Ketchum and Hailey had a measure on their ballots on Election Day to add a 1 percent local-option tax to pay minimum revenue guarantees to airlines that might otherwise be unwilling to fly into a risky resort market such as Sun Valley. The supporting campaign was called "Yes to Air."

The tax would have collected roughly $2.2 million dollars in 2013, part of which may have gone to pay the guarantees on a new flight from San Francisco. The rest of the funding would have gone to support the guarantees on existing seasonal flights from Los Angeles and Seattle, as well as to market all three flights and conduct research on future destinations.

By KATHERINE WUTZ
Express Staff Writer

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