Revelstoke’s portion of the provincial Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI) funding totalled $511,906 in 2012 and is anticipated to grow.
The fund is an agreement between the City of Revelstoke and the province. It channels a small percentage of hotel tax collected in Revelstoke into the fund, which is earmarked for tourism infrastructure projects. In Revelstoke it’s been used for things like snowmobile facility upgrades, improvements at the Mt. Macpherson Nordic centre and many more tourism-related capital projects.
The 2012 total is significant because the funding formula changed when the HST was implemented, but then reverted back to the old formula after the HST was rejected in B.C.
The province and the City of Revelstoke then signed a new agreement, which runs from 2012–2016. With new hotels now completed, and more in development, it seems likely the fund will grow each.
Of course, the formula is dependant on hotel room occupancy, which is always at the whim of the economy.
