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Kittitas County pauses two lodging-tax awards over Cle Elum bankruptcy questions
Summary
County commissioners approved most of a $10 million lodging-tax capital grants package but struck two awards and sent them back to the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee after concerns that the projects sit on city-owned land now in Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
KITTITAS COUNTY, Wash. — Kittitas County commissioners on July 16 approved Resolution 2025-149 to move forward with large-capital lodging-tax awards but voted to strike two awards and return those capital-grant questions to the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) for further review amid concerns about the City of Cle Elum’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
The action follows LTAC’s recommendation to award $10,000,000 for tourism-related, municipally owned infrastructure projects after a competitive application process. LTAC clerk Lisa Begney told the commissioners the committee considered seven applications and recommended funding for projects including Rosslyn cemetery irrigation and signage, the Washington State Horse Park, the Kittitas County Event Center, rodeo grandstand reconstruction, and the City of Cle Elum’s Upper County Community Recreation Center. Begney said the County of Ellensburg field-house project and one documentary-film request did not fit the committee’s scope.
The board’s move matters because two recommended awards relate to projects on land owned in fee simple by the City of Cle Elum, and county commissioners expressed concern that municipal bankruptcy proceedings could place those properties or associated investments at legal…
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