Ephraim residents will decide on April 6th if an additional 0.5 percent sales tax should be placed on tourism-related purchases within the village. The Village Board approved the decision to put the Premier Resort Area Tax on the ballot as a referendum question as a way to raise the necessary funding to address the community’s infrastructure needs. Administrator Brent Bristol said back in October that nailing down the details of the village’s ten-year plan sped up the conversations to potentially add the PRAT.

If approved by voters, Ephraim would become the second Door County community to enact the PRAT, following Sister Bay’s lead in 2018. The two communities got a special exemption from the state to allow the PRAT, which is typically reserved for communities like Wisconsin Dells and Rhinelander, where tourism-related businesses account for at least 40 percent of the equalized assessed property values.