The Utah County Commission voted Wednesday to increase the county’s transient room tax, or TRT, from 4.25% to 4.5%.

The increase will go into effect Oct. 1, impacting short-term rentals such as hotels, campgrounds and vacation rentals.

The decision came in response to House Bill 456, an amendment passed by the state Legislature to increase the maximum amount of TRT counties could impose by .25%.

Commission Chair Brandon Gordon and Commissioner Amelia Powers Gardner voted in favor of the increase, while Commissioner Skyler Beltran voted no.

Beltran’s concern was about increasing taxes unnecessarily. He argued the county already had a healthy TRT fund and suggested the county could wait “two or three years” to utilize the increase.

“I think the overlying principle is we shouldn’t just raise the tax because we can, and we don’t need it,” he said.

Powers Gardner agreed the tax should not be raised arbitrarily but said the county is actively working with the state Legislature to allow TRT revenue to fund expenditures currently paid for by the general fund, such as search and rescue operations and road maintenance in the canyon, and that a tax increase could be of use.

“We’re not getting lost climbing ‘The Y,'” Powers Gardner said. “It’s people that are visiting, it’s travel and tourism that are calling search and rescue hiking ‘The Y.’ So I would be in favor of passing this so that we can prepare for those expanded uses.”

Gordon’s biggest question was whether the tax increase could impede visitors’ decision-making on whether to book a short-term rental but determined the county could utilize the funds.

Beltran’s further concern was TRT funds were too volatile to use on “ongoing, significant expenses” and suggested they be used for one-time expenditures, such as a stipend for search and rescue.

“When we start getting into ‘$200,000-a-year officer in the canyon’ just out of this fund, I start to get a little worried that the account’s a little more volatile than some of our others,” he said.

Powers Gardner responded and said having a TRT fund balance could stable the fund in years of volatility.