BRENHAM, WASHINGTON CO. OFFICIALS DISCUSS HOT FUNDS
Washington County and Brenham city officials met today (Tuesday) to discuss the distribution of hotel occupancy tax (HOT) funds moving forward.
Chief Financial Officer Carolyn Miller met with county commissioners to attempt to correct past communication issues between the two parties.
Miller said that there are no definite plans for how to move forward, and that the roadmap needs to be decided on by the governing bodies.
Currently, the county has an inter-local agreement with the city that, according to County Judge John Brieden, does not work anymore. He says this is due to recent decisions made by the city that didn’t factor the existing agreement in.
Miller says she is working to get the city and county together during the first week of October for a joint workshop. The workshop would detail a new agreement, as well as how HOT funds will be used in the future. This will include how the new organizational structure will look, whether that be a Tourism Board, a HOT Board, or both.
The county would then agree to write a check for $120,000—its share of HOT funds in 2017—to the city after October 1st. The HOT Board is now able to consider funding requests from various organizations in the city and county, and can make allocations.
HOT Board Vice Chairman Sharon Brass says the board intends to review each application and fund everyone as much, and as equally, as possible.
Barry Brass, involved with local organizations such as Unity Theatre and the Step into the Past Tours Program, thanked commissioners for agreeing to release their portion of funding to the HOT Board.
He said that several organizations had been “left in the dark” over the past two months in regards to funding. He also said he is encouraged to see an effort being made to coordinate marketing the county as a whole, rather than individual groups.
Bob Davis, of the Chappell Hill Historical Society, which puts on the annual Scarecrow and Bluebonnet Festivals, told the court that he wishes the funds would be allocated more county-wide. Davis said those two festivals fill up every hotel and motel in the county over those weekends, yet they receive only minimal funding from the HOT Board.
Commissioner Kirk Hanath said he believes more data needs to be collected to know that the funds are being spent in places that are actually drawing people to the county.
Ginger Moreland, Administrator for the Washington on the Brazos State Park Association, said there is no lack of data that she and others must present to the HOT Board during the funding request process.
The city and county both collect a 6 percent tax on stays at hotels, motels and bed and breakfasts inside their territory. The state of Texas collects another 7 percent tax, making the total tax 13 percent.