Summit County council approves nearly $3.9M in restaurant‑tax grants after competitive scoring

The Summit County Council on May 24 approved the Restaurant Tax Advisory Committee’s 2023 grant recommendations, directing roughly $3.9 million to 49 projects after the committee scored about $5.6 million in requests.

Billy DeMong, the committee chair, told the council the group used a multi‑step scoring process guided by state statute and county code and incorporated a sustainable‑tourism metric added by the council last year. “We ran, I think, a very good process… the application was then made available on the county website on March 1,” DeMong said.

DeMong said the panel assigned liaisons to applicants, held presentations and applied a novel percentage allocation in final deliberations so that partially funded projects received an equitable share when full funding was not possible. The committee noted one notable denial: a new Park City baseball request for under $100,000 toward an overall project exceeding $2 million; members said the proposal lacked leverage and wider stakeholder support.

Council members asked for clarity on geographic diversification and whether the Chamber’s recurring receipt of TRT funds warranted additional council guidance. Committee members said they track total organizational budgets and project-specific leverage but have not adopted firm geographic benchmarks; staff and councilors encouraged the committee to return data summaries (project by location and amount) in future reports.

The council moved to approve the committee’s recommendations as presented; the motion carried unanimously.