Lodging tax revenue leftovers

Monroe Mayor Geoffrey Thomas announced the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee’s 2017 lodging tax grants recommendations last week, along with an additional grant opportunity that opens in January.

Lodging excise tax is collected any time a person stays in one of Monroe’s hotels or motels. The lodging business pays the tax to the state treasurer, and it is distributed back to the levying city. The funds are then awarded as grants to encourage tourism-related activities, based on a set of criteria outlined in state law. Nonprofits, municipalities, visitors’ bureaus, destination marketing organizations and other entities that promote tourism are eligible.

Every year, a committee consisting of the mayor, two individuals representing businesses required to collect lodging tax, two people involved in promotional activities and a staff liaison is tasked with reviewing the grant applications to determine how the funds will be distributed.  

The 2016 LTAC approved $76,822.92 in funding for 2017, the bulk of which was awarded to the Monroe Chamber of Commerce. Other grant awardees include the Monroe Historical Society, the Monroe Parks Department and Evergreen Speedway.

Thomas reported that because the tax has generated higher revenue than the combined total of grant applications over the last few years, there were leftover funds after the 2017 requests were granted. Since money is to be used to help the community, the decision was made to hold a special grant application period in January to award the remaining balance of the funds.   

“The thought process there is we go ahead and do two rounds next year,” Thomas said.

The change was reflected during the first reading of the 2017 budget, passed by the Monroe City Council on Tuesday, Dec. 6. The city increased lodging tax expenditures from $80,000 to $110,000 on a pilot project basis.  

The special application period in January will award roughly $30,000 in additional grants, Thomas said. The regular grant cycle will take place in November 2017, and will award approximately $80,000.

Lodging tax funding criteria is sometimes assumed to be restricted to events and activities that definitively result in “heads in beds,” meaning an organization must show how it will be using the funds to increase overnight stays in the community. The funds can actually be used for a much broader range of tourism promotion activities, Thomas said.  

“It’s not just for heads in beds,” Thomas said. “It’s to help promote what Monroe has to offer when people get here.”

According to state code, lodging tax revenues may be used for activities related to the promotion and marketing of tourism in a community. While increasing overnight stays is among the lodging tax funding criteria, the money can also be used for capital improvements that increase the visibility of an activity or organization, supporting tourism-related facilities owned by nonprofits and the marketing of festivals and other special events that result in both overnight stays and day trips. 

Any relevant organization is eligible to apply for the funds. For more information on the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee, click here.