Sullivan County legislators send proposed tourism grants resolution to Economic Development Committee for further work

Legislators on the Sullivan County Executive Committee discussed whether to create or expand a county tourism-event grant fund and ultimately agreed to refer a proposed resolution (identified in the meeting as resolution No. 22) to the Economic Development Committee for a meeting on March 6.

Committee members described an existing tourism-event grant program that the county has used in the past year—administered under contract by the Sullivan County Visitors Association (SCVA or SCBA in discussion). Legislator Matt McPhillips said the existing program disbursed roughly $132,000 in its first year and that several local arts and business groups, including the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, have used the grants. McPhillips said he wants to avoid creating a duplicate program and suggested the resolution be vetted in committee to determine whether to amend the existing program or scale up funding.

Discussion covered competing priorities: some legislators said larger “big-ticket” grants (for conventions, expos, or multi-day tournament events that would demonstrably raise heads-on-beds) require higher thresholds than the current small grants, while others argued the county should leave contract control with the Visitors Association and not micromanage operational decisions. Committee members cited an accumulation of multi-year room-tax revenues that could amount to more than $1.3 million (estimates in the discussion ranged higher when prior years’ balances were included) and debated whether to appropriate larger sums for targeted promotion and convention recruitment.

Several procedural points were raised: committee members asked to review applicant reporting, ‘heads on beds’ outcomes tied to prior disbursements, and whether promotional staff or commission salaries could be paid from the fund. Legislators agreed they lacked sufficient data to make a final decision at the executive committee and directed staff and members of the Economic Development Committee to: collect results from the first-year grants, estimate realistic funding thresholds for large events, and return with recommendations.

Chair said the resolution will move to the Economic Development Committee’s March 6 meeting for further analysis and to develop application/threshold options. No appropriation change was approved at the executive-committee meeting.

The discussion focused on program design and governance, not on any immediate appropriation; committee members requested quantitative reporting from SCVA on application counts, receipts, and measured impact from the earlier grant cycle.