PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Lodging Tax Advisory Committee is recommending $124,500 in event, capital and operations proposals to the city council.
If the council approves the full amount, it will dip into the lodging tax excess reserves fund.
Thursday’s meeting at city hall was the second round of proposals the committee had reviewed this year.
It opened applications for a second round in late April after it allocated about $1.7 million from the lodging tax fund’s proposed 2024 budget and still had $89,500 in unallocated funds.
The lodging tax fund also has $620,000 in reserves.
The second round of proposals had eight event applications requesting a total of $67,000, two capital applications requesting $20,000 and four operations applications requesting $89,500.
Two of the event applications, Flounder Pounder and the Maritime Festival, did not move forward because those events have already happened.
Council member Navarra Carr stated that, in the future, the application should clarify that these funds are for events that have not yet occurred.
The remaining event applications, totaling $47,000, were unanimously approved to move forward to the city council for consideration. They include:
• $10,000 for the Dungeness Crab Festival
• $10,000 for the Olympic Peninsula Fungi Festival
• $2,500 for the Railroad 5K
• $4,500 for the Celebration of Shadows Fall Festival
• $10,000 for Fall Fest
• $10,000 for the High School Sailing Regatta
Both capital facilities requests, totaling $20,000, were unanimously approved for city council consideration.
They include:
• $10,000 for the Port Angeles Waterfront District downtown tree lighting
• $10,000 for the Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts phase 2 pier stage upgrade
One of the operations requests, a proposal of $12,000 for a loss recoup for the Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts, did not move forward because the committee didn’t think it was an appropriate use of the lodging tax funds.
The remaining operations requests, totaling $77,500, were approved for city council consideration. They include:
• $25,000 for the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center operations
• $12,000 for the Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts operations
• $40,500 for the Dungeness Crab Festival operations
The committee did not have time to address the agenda’s second or third action items, which included requesting $75,000 of additional funding to complete the final construction of the City Pier observation deck rehabilitation project, and the annual review of the committee’s vision, goals and priorities guidance document.
Those items will be addressed at a future meeting.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
