TOWN OF WEST YELLOWSTONE

What TOWN OF WEST YELLOWSTONE does

The Town of West Yellowstone is a municipal government entity incorporated in 1966 under Montana state law, serving as the primary western gateway community to Yellowstone National Park. The town provides a full suite of municipal services — administration and finance, public safety (police and 911 dispatch), court services, parks and recreation, public works (streets, sidewalks, water and sewer), social services, and a public library — to a small resident base while managing the operational impact of more than 4 million annual visitors to the national park. Operations are organized across eight departments (Administration & Finance, Court, Police, Public Services, Parks & Recreation, Social Services, TBID, and Public Library) with leadership provided by Town Manager Dan Walker and departmental directors.

The Town's revenue model is built primarily on a 4% Resort Tax on taxable goods and services (3% original, authorized 1985; plus 1% additional for infrastructure, approved by voters in 2019), a $2.00 per night Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) fee on lodging facilities with ten or more rooms, business licensing fees, and water/sewer utility billing. TBID collections of $350,000–$400,000 annually fund tourism marketing and local events. The combined FY 2023–2024 expenditure budget across all funds (General Fund, Special Revenue, Debt Services, Capital Improvements, Water and Wastewater) totals approximately $18 million, with over half of General Fund revenue derived from the Resort Tax.

Service delivery relies on conventional municipal infrastructure rather than proprietary technology. The Town uses an ArcGIS-based interactive zoning map and the Pay.gov federal online payment portal for utility bills, court fines, and citations; no proprietary software, AI/ML capabilities, or technology platform products are disclosed. Customer/governance engagement runs through Town Hall, online portals, the town's official website, Facebook, and Instagram. The entity is publicly owned and governed by an elected Town Council, with no parent company or private equity ownership.

Name

TOWN OF WEST YELLOWSTONE

Legal name

Town of West Yellowstone

Website

https://townofwestyellowstone.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1966

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Town of West Yellowstone is a Montana municipal government incorporated in 1966 that provides municipal services — administration, police, courts, public works, parks and recreation, utilities, and social services — to residents and over 4 million annual visitors as the primary western gateway to Yellowstone National Park, funded primarily through a 4% Resort Tax, a TBID lodging fee, utility billing, and business licensing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Municipal Government Services

NAICS

Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions (712190), Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development (925)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Parks, Recreation & Protected Areas Administration (BPAIAMAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Public Works Departments (Streets, Bridges, Stormwater, Fleet, Maintenance) (BPAIALAD), Permitting, Reservations & Visitor Information Services (Passes, Booking, Visitor Centers) (THAAAGAD)

Keywords

• Municipal government services
• Resort tax administration
• Public safety services
• Water and sewer utilities
• Parks and recreation programs

Headquarters

HQ city

West Yellowstone

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Resort Tax: 4% resort tax on goods and services collected by local businesses and remitted to the Town monthly. Originally 3% tax on luxury items (authorized 1985, collections began January 1986), with an additional 1% approved in 2019 specifically for infrastructure projects.
2. Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) Fee: $2.00 per night fee assessed by all lodging facilities with ten or more rooms. TBID collects between $350,000 and $400,000 annually to fund marketing efforts, local events, and brick-and-mortar projects.
3. Business Licensing: Fees for business licenses required for all businesses operating in West Yellowstone. A refundable resort tax bond of $500 is required for businesses selling goods/services subject to resort tax.
4. General Fund Revenue: Overall expenditure budget approximately $18 million for FY 2023-2024 including General Fund, Special Revenue, Debt Services, Capital Improvements, Water and Wastewater Funds. Over half of General Fund revenue derives from Resort Tax.
5. Utility Billing: Water and sewer services billed through the Administration and Finance Office. Payments can be made by cash or personal check at Town Hall.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Town of West Yellowstone is a municipal government that provides essential public services to residents and visitors, including water and sewer utilities, business licensing, resort tax collection, police and 911 communications, public works and infrastructure maintenance, parks and recreation programs, court services, social services, and library services. It also administers a Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) funded by a $2.00 per night lodging fee that supports local marketing, events, and infrastructure.

Product overview

The Town of West Yellowstone offers a unified portfolio of municipal government services rather than a technology product platform. Services include administration and finance functions (utility billing, business licensing, resort tax collection), public safety (police department, court services), community development (parks, recreation programs, community facilities), social services, and public infrastructure maintenance. These are traditional government services delivered through the town's administrative offices and departmental staff, not software products or technology platforms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Government Administration Services
• Parks & Recreation Programs
• Community Facilities Rental
• Law Enforcement Services
• Water and Sewer Utility Services
• Resort Tax Collection
• Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) Administration
• Business Licensing
• Municipal Court Services
• Social Services
• Public Library Services

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• City of Moab, Utah: Municipal government serving as a gateway to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. Larger and more diversified than West Yellowstone but with the same fundamental tourism-gateway municipal service model.

Direct peers

• City of St. Mary, Montana: Small gateway community on the east side of Glacier National Park, sharing West Yellowstone's profile of municipal services funded largely by visitor traffic and constrained by small permanent population.
• Town of Jackson, Wyoming: Municipal government serving as a gateway community to Grand Teton National Park with similar exposure to seasonal tourism swings, resort tax revenue, and infrastructure strain from visitors. Both towns share the structural model of small permanent population serving millions of national park visitors.
• City of Williams, Arizona: Municipal government serving as the southern gateway to Grand Canyon National Park, sharing the West Yellowstone model of small-town municipal services funded through tourism-driven transaction taxes.
• Town of Mariposa, California: Small gateway municipality near Yosemite National Park with a comparable visitor-to-resident dynamic, tourism-driven tax base, and challenges funding municipal services in a constrained permanent population.
• Town of Gardiner, Montana: Municipal government serving as the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park, with the same visitor-driven tax base, small permanent population, and gateway community dynamics as West Yellowstone.
• Town of Estes Park, Colorado: Municipal government serving as the primary gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, with a comparable visitor-to-resident ratio, resort/sales tax structure, and challenges delivering municipal services under extreme seasonal demand.
• City of Gatlinburg, Tennessee: Municipal government serving as a primary gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with a heavily tourism-dependent tax base, peak seasonal congestion, and similar resort tax revenue model.
• Town of Tusayan, Arizona: Small municipal government functioning as the South Rim gateway to Grand Canyon National Park, sharing West Yellowstone's structural profile: tiny population, multi-million annual visitors, and gateway-dependent tax base.
• City of Cody, Wyoming: Municipal government serving as the eastern gateway to Yellowstone National Park, with an analogous visitor-driven economy, resort/sales tax collection, and gateway community tourism strategy.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/townofwestyellowstone
• Instagraminstagram.com/townofwestyellowstone
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/town-of-west-yellowstone

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles19 records

Subsidiaries8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about TOWN OF WEST YELLOWSTONE