Visit Boerne board approves four event grants totaling $38,000 after budget trimming

The Visit Boerne advisory board approved funding for four local events on June 28, voting to award a total of $38,500 in hotel-occupancy-tax grants for 2026 programming after discussion about staying within a flat operating budget.

Board members and staff said the city manager’s directive requires the Visit Boerne budget to remain level with the prior year, so the board limited some requests and asked staff to verify projected hotel room nights when applications claim high returns. The board also recorded one recusal: board member Ross Partlow stepped away for consideration of Living Church of God’s grant request.

The board acted on four applications that had been presented earlier in the meeting: the Hill Country Mile (car show), Living Church of God convention, the Texas Corvette Association show, and the Tour de Boerne cycling event. Staff explained that hotel-occupancy-tax expenditures must both promote tourism and fall into one of nine statutorily enumerated categories for local hotel tax use.

Votes at a glance

- Hill Country Mile (car show): Approved $15,000 as requested. Motion passed by voice vote; individual tallies were not recorded in the minutes.

- Living Church of God (annual convention): Approved $6,500 (board trimmed the request from $8,000). Ross Partlow recused from this item. Motion passed by voice vote; individual tallies not specified.

- Texas Corvette…