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Issaquah council approves $55,000 in lodging-tax grants, backs paragliding festival amid transparency questions
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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 productions; and $10,000 to Salmon Days.
"The staff recommendation is to approve the allocation of $55,000 to fund business and nonprofit tourism-related activities as recommended by LTAC and authorize the inclusion of $3,500 in a subsequent 2026 budget amendment," Jack Pedlow said.
Council discussion praised the committee's work but also pressed for more transparency. Deputy Council President Jang noted that in this cycle four of the five funded projects had representatives who serve on LTAC and asked whether committee members have affiliations with applicants and whether scoring details could be published.
"I've heard basically three organizations that applied and did not get the money reached out to me and asked, you know, what happened," Jang said. "I think it would probably be helpful, in the interest of transparency, to publish some of the actual scoring so there's more insight into how these things were determined." (Deputy Council President Jang)
Jack Pedlow responded that Washington state law (RCW) permits applicants to serve on LTAC and that the committee used an internal scoring rubric for commissioners' use; the final recommendations were determined by the number of tallies in commissioners' top fives. Council member Joe said the committee deliberately reduced several $15,000 requests to $10,000 to spread the available funds.
Council member Walsh urged LTAC to weight proposals for multiday or net-new events—projects that would draw visitors from 50-plus miles away and generate overnight stays. Several council members said they supported the recommendation while seeking future refinements to the rubric and a review of the destination marketing contract that receives a large share of LTAC funds.
The motion to approve the allocations and authorize the budget amendment passed unanimously.
Next steps: the city will implement the approved disbursements and include the $3,500 adjustment in a subsequent 2026 budget amendment. Council members signaled they will discuss LTAC scoring transparency and the distribution between professional services and direct event grants during upcoming budget conversations.
