A total of nine Hoquiam 2020 lodging tax funds requests were approved by the city’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee and the City Council Monday.
Lodging tax funds are collected from hotel and motel taxes and can be used to fund events and tourism-related expenditures.
“The total awards add up to $39,461,” said Finance Director Corri Schmid at Monday’s City Council meeting, the city’s first ever held online.
The recipients include:
• City of Hoquiam, Olympic Stadium renovation/preservation, $20,000
• Hoquiam Beautification Committee, downtown baskets, $2,000
• Hoquiam Rotary Club, advertising events, $1,500
• City of Hoquiam Easter egg hunt, $900
• Hoquiam Loggers Playday Committee, events/advertising/rental, $3,000
• Polson Museum, signage, $4,261
• 7th Street Theatre, rack cards/advertising, $2,800
• Hoquiam Business Association, events/social media advertising, $2,500
• Shorebird Festival, education events/advertising, $2,500
Noting that some of these recipients, such as the Easter egg hunt and the Shorebird Festival, had been canceled this year due to the COVID-19 stay-at-home order from Gov. Jay Inslee, Schmid explained lodging tax funds are supplied as reimbursement for the activities stated in each request. If the event is canceled and the money not used, that money rolls over into a larger pool of money available next year. Applicants of events canceled this year will have to reapply for 2021 funding.
Schmid noted the eggs purchased for the city’s Easter egg hunt had been repurposed and are being used in Aberdeen school meals.
As for the Shorebird Festival — this would have been the 25th annual event — Shannon Anderson told Port of Grays Harbor Commissioners on Tuesday that some of the grant money the canceled event received from other sources can be retained for use in next year’s festival, which will be billed and promoted as the 25th annual.
“The festival committee got several grants this year to help transport between classrooms and the nature trail,” she said. The Pushrods gave $500, the National Audubon Society $1,000, and the Grays Harbor Community Foundation $5,000. “All three entities have agreed the Shorebird Festival can keep those grants for use next year.”
