Clear Creek commissioners weigh lodging-tax priorities as receipts show volatility and childcare ask exceeds available funds

County staff presented lodging-tax actuals and a projected 2026 budget assuming $310,000 in receipts and a traditional 40%/30%/30% split among tourism, the housing authority and childcare scholarships. Staff warned that a recent surge in receipts makes the forecast uncertain and that the childcare partner requested $131,000 — about $43,000 above the board's current plan — which would require drawing more heavily on the lodging-tax fund balance.

Commissioners discussed options: reduce county contributions to childcare scholarships; maintain the tourism bureau allocation at 40% to preserve a "minimum viable" marketing capacity; or revise scholarship eligibility so households in Georgetown (which contributes little into the county lodging pool) are ineligible or share in funding. One commissioner noted that roughly 27% of scholarship recipients listed a Georgetown ZIP code and recommended asking the scholarship administrator for city-level residency data rather than ZIP codes to better match funding to where lodging taxes are collected.

Staff recommended waiting for end-of-quarter receipts before making a final allocation change; several commissioners asked the county manager to present a concise business case at an upcoming mayors-and-commissioners meeting, explain the fairness concern and request greater partner participation in funding. The board agreed to revisit allocations after first-quarter receipts are final and to ask the scholarship administrator for detailed residency and employment location data to inform eligibility criteria.