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Issaquah council approves $55,000 in lodging-tax grants, backs paragliding festival amid transparency questions
Summary
The Issaquah City Council unanimously approved $55,000 in lodging-tax grants for five tourism projects — including a proposed paragliding festival — and directed a $3,500 budget amendment. Several council members urged greater transparency about LTAC scoring and noted committee members may have affiliations with applicants.
The Issaquah City Council on March 16 approved staff's recommendation to allocate $55,000 in lodging-tax funds to five tourism projects and authorized a $3,500 budget amendment to cover the increase.
Economic Development Coordinator Jack Pedlow told the council that the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) received a competitive slate of applications requesting roughly $235,000 and used a commissioner scoring matrix and top-five tallies to identify five projects for funding. The recommended awards were: $15,000 for an aircraft/paragliding festival; $10,000 to the Nutcracker residency at the Longman Performing Arts Center; $10,000 to the Issaquah Film Festival; $10,000 to Village Theatre mainstage…
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