JHTT JPB draft FY27 budget: $500k reserve draw, $1.42M admin line

The Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Joint Powers Board is penciling in a $500,000 draw from its unallocated reserve fund in its draft FY27 working budget, on top of $7.5 million in projected lodging tax revenue. Even with $40,000 of investment income, the sheet shows a planned operating deficit of $578,568 and an anticipated ending fund balance of about $2.15 million if all budgeted reserves are used. All figures are in the board’s working financials: JHTT JPB Working Budget Data Financials.

The biggest eyebrow-raiser is administrative overhead. “General and Administrative” is budgeted at $1,421,547, a 78.1% increase over the FY26 forecast shown in the same table ($797,967). The draft also introduces or expands several overhead-type lines including $75,000 for office space (vs $30,000 in the FY26 original budget shown), a $102,000 fiscal manager contract (up from $90,000), and a new $100,000 “Contingency and Special Projects” line.

On the program side, the marketing category drops sharply. “Marketing, Public Relations, & Advertising” is budgeted at $2.418 million, down 22.1% from the FY26 forecast shown ($3.104 million), including a lower agency-of-record retainer ($500,000 vs $753,960) and reduced tradeshow and sales mission spending ($250,000 vs $400,000).

If the board is going to lean harder on reserves while it shifts dollars into administration, it owes taxpayers a clean explanation of what, specifically, that added overhead buys and how it will be measured. A $500,000 reserve draw is not a rounding error, it is a policy choice.