Clovis advisory board recommends $75,000 in lodgers-tax awards, forwards package to City Commission

The Clovis Lodgers Tax Advisory Board on Jan. 14 recommended $75,000 in lodging-tax promotional awards to a slate of local events and organizations, and forwarded the package to the Clovis City Commission for final approval.

Justin (city staff) told the board it was “about $36,000, in actual or over budget, in actual collections versus budgeted collections,” and said the advisory board had roughly $105,000 available to award across two remaining meetings and approximately $50,000 for the remainder of the fiscal year. Justin said tonight’s packet contained roughly $200,000 in requests against a typical annual promotional budget of about $289,000.

“Tonight’s applications are $200,000 worth of requests,” Justin said, describing a crowding of demand for a constrained funding pool. The board moved through more than a dozen grant applications from event organizers and venue operators before taking a single recommendation vote to forward awards to the commission.

Why it matters: Lodgers-tax awards fund advertising and promotional activity intended to encourage out-of-town stays and hotel revenue. Board members repeatedly asked applicants…