11 - Hotel Occupancy Tax Agreement Amendment No. 1

Home Browse Search

Item No. 11 Memorandum TO: Mayor Mayor Pro Tem City Council FROM: Robert G. Vine, Assistant City Manager SUBJECT: Amendment No. 1 to Hotel Occupancy Tax Agreement between City of Paris and Lamar County Chamber of Commerce DATE: August 14, 2023 BACKGROUND: The City of Paris and the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce entered into a Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) Agreement with the effective date of October 1, 2016. This agreement stipulated the City obligating 95% of the HOT collected to the Chamber while retaining 5% of the HOT "to pay City's administrative cost, and for the purpose of funding special purpose grants to enhance tourism as approved by the City Council of Paris and consistent with state law", STATUS OF ISSUE: Staff have used HOT funds to partially, or fully, fund two projects over the past year, the Lake Crook Boat Ramp and an adjacent floating boat dock. With the current agreement in place regarding the use of HOT funds, approval was obtained from both the City Council and the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce Board. Over the past several months, discussions were had with respect to an opportunity to amend the original agreement by removing the requirement to limit the HOT fund of only paying for administrative costs to instead authorize "for the purpose of funding special purpose grants to enhance tourism as approved by the City Council of Paris and consistent with state law". As a result of these conversations, this proposed amendment was drafted and presented to the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce Board, which they subsequently signed.