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Council renews tourism agreement; removes restaurant-tax portion pending state action
Summary
The council approved a five-year agreement with the local chamber (Visit Little Falls) to continue tourism promotion, removing the restaurant-tax component while retaining the lodging-tax distribution (95% to the chamber, 5% to the city); staff cautioned the 5% holdback may not fully cover annual review costs in some years.
The Little Falls City Council on June 15 adopted Resolution 2026-33 to renew the Tourism, Convention and Visitor Services agreement with the Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism (Visit Little Falls) for a five-year term, removing the restaurant-tax component pending state statute action.
Staff (Alex) explained the change is administrative: the agreement's structure remains the same but will rely only on lodging-tax proceeds while the state's restaurant-tax authority is uncertain. Under the agreement, Visit Little Falls will receive 95% of lodging-tax proceeds for tourism promotion and the city will retain 5% for administrative costs and an annual review; the chamber will submit an annual tourism budget for council review.
Alex told the council the 5% holdback (roughly $5,300 based on recent years' collections) may not fully cover the cost of a financial review in some years, creating a small potential shortfall of a few hundred dollars; the city could fund that difference from the general fund if needed. Council members asked whether the chamber could cover the difference and received staff's explanation that the shortfall, if any, has been small historically.
The resolution passed on a unanimous roll call and the agreement will be implemented with lodging-tax proceeds only until or unless the restaurant tax is reinstated by state statute.
