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Council reviews local-option sales tax projects: downtown facade, housing incentives and hotel-motel allocations
Summary
Staff proposed using local-option sales tax to fund outside-agency grants, downtown facade projects ($100,000 proposed for another round), and a housing-incentive program (proposal: 10 houses at $20,000 each); council discussed carryover, catalyst grant matches and use of hotel-motel funds for downtown branding.
Council reviewed a package of projects proposed to be funded from local-option sales tax receipts, including downtown facade grants, a housing-incentive program and hotel-motel allocations for downtown marketing.
Laura and staff said the city conservatively projects about $2.1 million annually in local-option sales tax and proposed allocating $100,000 for another round of downtown facade grants and resuming a housing incentive program of 10 homes at $20,000 each. Staff noted some facade grants from an earlier round had not yet been paid out and that carryover funds would remain available.
Council discussed how to use local-option dollars in grant-matching scenarios with state catalyst or demonstration grants. Staff explained a $100,000 catalyst grant typically requires a local match and described prior uses of the city's funds to leverage larger catalyst and demonstration projects. Council members asked about eligibility and match rules; staff said some projects (for example a changing-ownership proposal for Thomas Plaza) might not qualify as catalyst grants but could be eligible for other matching funds.
Hotel-motel tax allocations for chamber-led branding and wayfinding were also discussed. Staff suggested using hotel-motel funds for the downtown branding work rather than local-option sales tax to preserve LOST for grants and capital projects.
Why this matters: these programs direct one-time and short-term local-option sales tax dollars toward downtown revitalization, housing incentives and tourism marketing. Funding choices will affect which projects can start quickly and which require later match or council direction.
What happens next: staff plans to return at the council's second February meeting with applications and more concrete cost estimates for facade programs and housing incentives; the council may move to start an application process if it approves the allocations.
