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Some last-minute number-crunching succeeded in turning some frowns upside-down at Tuesday night’s Spokane Valley City Council meeting.
For a while, it looked like supporters of the Spokane Valley museum and Valleyfest would have some stern words for the council, as it appeared city support through distribution of lodging-tax dollars would be little to nonexistent for those two entities.
However Ken Thompson, city finance director, had some good news: An additional $15,000 was expected to be collected from the special excise tax collected by stays in Spokane Valley hotels and motels. That would bring the total to $440,000, which was still down from the $520,000 distributed in 2009 but better than original projections.
With that in mind, Mayor Richard Munson suggested that the Spokane Valley Heritage Museum receive $5,000 for next year. Originally, it would have received zero dollars after getting $3,250 for advertising in 2009.
A day earlier, Munson said he didn’t think the museum deserved any money because it’s only open three days a week and doesn’t generate the tax dollars by putting “heads in beds” as a tourism destination.
“I don’t think they’re contributing that much,” Munson said.
The museum has received lodging tax dollars every year except 2008 when it didn’t apply for funding.
“I’m very encouraged,” Jayne Singleton, director of the museum, told the council.
Also receiving more money will be Valleyfest, which had been penciled in to get $10,000 for promotion efforts. It will now collect $30,000, more than the $27,500 it got last year.
Peggy Doering, principal organizer for Valleyfest, said the annual fall event is getting larger all the time and that the three-day schedule at Mirabeau Park encourages overnight stays at local hotels and motels.
“This is the event of Spokane Valley,” she said.
Also receiving lodging-tax dollars are the Spokane Convention and Visitors Bureau ($195,000), the Spokane Regional Sports Commission ($120,000) and CenterPlace ($90,000).
The Spokane County Fair and Expo Center and the 2010 Figure Skating Championship both received funding from the city in 2009 -- $18,250 and $30,000, respectively -- but nothing this time around.
In other news, the council agreed to move forward with new street standards that will require more gravel and asphalt for longer-lasting roads. There had been concern that the stricter rules could require higher costs to Spokane Valley residents who have yet to have sewer lines installed in their neighborhoods, but it was determined that’s more of a question of pave-back requirements – and something that the new City Council can tackle in 2010.
The council also agreed to a 3.3-percent increase in payment to Poe Asphalt Paving for street and stormwater maintenance in 2010, although new Council Member Dean Grafos voted no.
Finally, the council learned that costs for the Pines/Mansfield improvement project have gone up more than expected and it would have to approve a change order $996,000 or expect some litigation from the contractors. Steve Worley, senior capital projects engineer, said that the extra money is available, although it could affect the city’s contribution to future projects.
The matter will be discussed at an upcoming council meeting.
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By
Mike Huffman
