The Summit County Council approved all of a committee’s recommendations for divvying up $4.37 million in restaurant sales tax dollars May 7 — except when it came to the Sundance Institute.
“If this is the swan song, I'm not sure that reinvesting the money at this point in that particular entity is maybe the right way to go, and I just like to know what Council thinks about that,” Councilmember Roger Armstrong said at the meeting.
His colleagues agreed. The Sundance Film Festival is leaving Park City after 2026 for Boulder, Colorado.
Sundance had asked for $225,000, the usual amount it wants to market the festival. The Restaurant Tax Committee recommended $85,000, less than half of what they awarded the event last year.
The council told the committee to select another organization or organizations to receive the money instead.
“If it's just being used to advertise in the Wasatch Front for an organization that's leaving the Wasatch, I'd rather take that money and invest it into a local organization that is committed to helping the people in our community,” Council Vice Chair Canice Harte said.
Council Chair Tonja Hanson also noted that after Sundance missed a separate grant deadline last year, council made a special exception to give them $130,000 anyway.
“And so I think with that in mind, with them leaving and with the promotion along the Wasatch Front, I'm in agreement,” Hanson concluded.
The Restaurant Tax Committee will reconvene and decide how to reappropriate the $85,000 it recommended for Sundance.
Although it had $4.37 million to give out this year, organizations asked the committee for a total of $7 million.
KPCW is among the organizations awarded a restaurant tax grant in 2025. The station will receive $4,000 for its “Skate Your Groove Thing,” a free community event. For a full list of the station's financial supporters, click here.
