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Commission weighs using occupancy tax to fund parks and museums; legal guidance to be sought
Summary
A resolution would move future funding for parks and museums from the nonprofit budget to occupancy (lodging) tax revenue; commissioners asked county attorney and staff to clarify statutory eligibility and oversight before final action.
The Sullivan County Commission discussed a resolution to direct future funding for local parks and museums to occupancy (lodging) tax revenues rather than the county’s nonprofit budget. Commissioner Harvey, sponsor of the measure, said the change would remove the burden from the general fund and require recipients to meet the state comptroller’s criteria for use of lodging-tax dollars.
“Parks and museums requesting this funding in the future will need to align with the eligibility guidelines as defined by the state comptroller's criteria for the legal use of lodging tax dollars to promote and support tourism in Tennessee,” Harvey said. The sponsor told commissioners the policy is new to the county and that the county attorney and CTAS (County Technical Assistance Service) had been consulted; the attorney said he would review state statute and report back.
Commissioners asked several operational questions: how eligibility and post-expenditure reporting will be enforced, whether a county designee (tourism director) will oversee recommendations, and what limits apply to which organizations may request funding. Matthew Johnson, the county’s tourism director, said he did not prefer pulling funds from the lodging-tax pool for some of the proposed uses, and the finance director provided a conservative revenue estimate for the lodging-tax fund.
The discussion included a funding-status update: commissioners said roughly $500,000 had previously been allocated to NEDA and another $500,000 to Sullivan County (distributions from the occupancy tax), and a county finance official gave a conservative 12-month revenue estimate of about $710,000. Commissioners asked for concrete guidance on legal eligibility and reporting requirements before acting; the county attorney agreed to research the applicable statutes and provide guidance.
Harvey moved to bring the resolution forward as a first reading next week; the commission agreed to schedule the item for further consideration rather than approving expenditures at this meeting.
