TO: Members of the City Council
FROM: Mayor Angela Birney
DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR CONTACT(S):
Planning and Community Development
Carol Helland
425-556-2107
DEPARTMENT STAFF:
Planning and Community Development
Sarah Pyle
Community Development and Implementation Manager
TITLE:
title
Approval of the 2021 and 2022 Tourism Fund Allocation for Matching Grants
OVERVIEW STATEMENT:
recommendation
Council is being asked to approve the recommendation of the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) for allocation of the 2021 and 2022 matching grants from the Tourism Fund.
body
? Additional Background Information/Description of Proposal Attached
REQUESTED ACTION:
? Receive Information ? Provide Direction ? Approve
REQUEST RATIONALE:
* Relevant Plans/Policies:
Comprehensive Plan, Long-Term Recovery Plan, RMC Title 4
* Required:
N/A
* Council Request:
N/A
* Other Key Facts:
The City of Redmond collects a lodging tax of one percent on each overnight stay at hotels located within Redmond and allocates these revenues to the Lodging Tax Fund. The purpose of the Lodging Tax Fund ("Tourism Fund") is to increase tourism in Redmond by attracting visitors, especially overnight visitors who stay in Redmond hotels, by funding event marketing, operation of special events, festivals, and/or tournaments.
Applications Received: The City received 16 external grant applications from non-profit and for-profit organizations.
Criteria: Applications are reviewed against the program fund criteria for tourism promotion, which prioritizes:
* Benefit to the community
* Innovation
* Overnight stays
* Community support
* Partnerships
* The scale of the project
* Other funding sources and
* New or ongoing funding
Per Council's feedback from January 2020, the grant application criteria were broken out and application components that support the criteria were assigned points. Each application received a weighted ranking to increase equitable evaluation of the applications. The current cr...
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