DuPage County OKs $50,000 for CVB shuttle grant program, adds new reporting requirements

The DuPage County Finance Committee voted Tuesday to provide $50,000 in American Rescue Plan Act interest funds to the DuPage Convention & Visitors Bureau (DCVB) to support a hotel transportation matching-grant program and separately approved a $50,000 annual financial commitment for the bureau’s fiscal 2025 operations.

The committee added a requirement that DCVB submit an annual expenditures-and-performance report to the county and provide quarterly updates to the Economic Development Committee with grantee name, amount awarded and number of hotel rooms booked. DCVB must also present program results, including return on investment and economic impact, to the finance committee by May 12, 2026.

The action follows public comment from Megan Miro, director of sales at the Westin Chicago Lombard, and a presentation by Beth Marchetti, executive director of the DuPage Convention & Visitors Bureau. Miro testified the DCVB grant program has helped her hotel win and retain business by enabling transportation and other incentives that closed contracts and generated ancillary local spending.

Marchetti told the committee the grant program, in place since 2016, is a reimbursement-based matching program shared between the bureau and participating municipalities. She said the DCVB processed 298 grants totalling $732,000 (split between the bureau and municipalities) and that the program reimburses hotels only after they submit pickup reports showing the booked room nights. Marchetti said the CVB can vet applications quickly and that municipalities may approve or deny the bureau’s recommendation before payment is issued.

Committee members asked about program details including the number and types of hotels that apply, use of third-party transportation vendors, minimum room-night thresholds and the durability of funding after ARPA interest funds are exhausted. Several members urged prioritizing larger conventions with higher room-night counts; Marchetti said the DCVB maintains a 100-room minimum on its existing grant program but did not want to exclude select-service hotels that can generate meaningful local impact from smaller repeat bookings.

Member Yu (County Board member) moved the amendment requiring annual and quarterly reporting; the amendment passed and was folded into the grant-approval motion. Member Krejewski (County Board member) moved approval of the FIR0048 grant appropriation; the measure passed as amended. The committee also approved a separate annual $50,000 commitment to DCVB for fiscal 2025 (FIR0040-25).

Marchetti said the DCVB is using ARPA interest funds in part because state funds are restricted and cannot be used to match grants in the same way; she said local municipal matches remain an important part of the program’s leverage. She also described operational details: the program is reimbursement-only, the bureau vets applications, municipalities approve or deny, and vendors typically operate on manifests that allow frequent pick-up service for groups of differing arrival times.

Committee leaders said they want to see data-driven results and the quarterly reporting and annual county presentation are intended to provide that. Marchetti said the DCVB will deliver ROI and economic-impact reports to the county and will continue to work with finance staff on tracking.

Votes at a glance

- FIR0048-25 (Hotel Transportation Grant Program): Motion to appropriate $50,000 ARPA interest funds to DCVB for the matching grant program, as amended to require annual and quarterly reporting and a May 12, 2026 finance-committee presentation — Motion by Member Krejewski; second by Member Yu; outcome: approved.

- FIR0040-25 (Annual financial commitment for DCVB fiscal 2025): Motion to commit $50,000 to DuPage Convention & Visitors Bureau — Motion by Member Kajewski; second by Member Yu; outcome: approved.

Ending

Committee members praised the bureau’s role in supporting hotel occupancy and local businesses while emphasizing the need for measurable outcomes. The DCVB will return program metrics and financial documentation through the county’s portal and to committee meetings as required by the amendment.