Geneva weighs expansion of Destination Geneva grants, debates insurance, measurement and eligibility

Geneva city officials discussed an expansion of the Destination Geneva grant program that would offer reimbursement grants—up to $10,000 per event or project—to support activities that the city says are intended to attract nonresident overnight visitors.

City Attorney Scott Finson framed the discussion by saying the program must be grounded in the municipal hotel-operators-occupation-tax statute and the constitutional requirement that public funds serve a public purpose. "We cannot give our money away," Finson said, adding that grants must "primarily and directly advance" the objective of attracting overnight visitors to Geneva.

The proposal, introduced by staff, would keep a reimbursement-based structure and tighten eligibility, documentation and oversight. Alex, a city staff member who introduced the item, told the committee the expanded draft would allow applicants to "apply for reimbursement up to $10,000 per event until the funds are exhausted," while smaller $2,500 awards would remain available. Staff and the city attorney said the reimbursement approach protects public records and accountability because grantees must submit evidence of how funds were spent before payment.

Why it matters: the city’s hotel/motel tax revenue is restricted by statute to tourism and activities that attract nonresident overnight stays; using the tax for other purposes risks legal challenge. Finson urged the council to keep the program’s objectives closely tied to statutory language and recommended amending the city’s ordinance to match the statute.

Council members pressed staff and the attorney on several practical issues. On insurance and indemnification, Finson outlined a risk-management approach that would require grantees to defend and indemnify the city for third-party claims and, in some cases, list the city as an additional insured. He warned that without contractual safeguards the city could face legal-defense costs tied to its self-insured retention. Staff cautioned that the insurance requirements in an early draft might be cost-prohibitive for smaller organizations and could duplicate coverage already required by the city’s special-event permit. "We want to be fair, but we also need to balance risk," staff said.

Council members also questioned how applicants will demonstrate that an event or project actually brings overnight visitors. Finson said festivals and other events are eligible if the applicant explains how the project will advance the objective and proposes a reasonable methodology for estimating overnight stays or visitor origin; reimbursement requests would later require a report of actual outcomes. He and staff noted the program’s scoring system is designed to be neutral and based on need, capacity and projected quality; the draft sets a minimum score of 40 out of 75 to be eligible for funding.

Budget and scope: staff discussion referenced a program pool in the mid-five-figure range (staff cited $75,000 in one exchange) and reiterated that awards are intended to supplement event promotion—not fully underwrite programming. Council members asked whether unused restricted funds could be carried forward and whether the city might use general-fund economic development authority instead (the attorney said that is legally possible but would require a distinct policy and budget decision).

Other topics included whether the convention/visitor bureau (CVB) must follow the same application process (Finson said the CVB is regulated by a separate statute and contract structure), and whether analytic tools such as geofencing could be used later to measure visitor origin (staff suggested such tools for year two, after the program’s first-year rollout and evaluation).

What the committee did next: the committee agreed to advance the draft policy to the full city council for the May 18 meeting for further consideration and ordinance cleanup; no final funding or ordinance changes were adopted at the committee meeting.

The next steps are for staff to refine insurance language and reporting forms, clarify whether the award is per project or per event in the application, and for the council to consider the ordinance and budget at the upcoming city council meeting.