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Leavenworth Area Promotions (L.A.P.)

L.A.P.
(Leavenworth Area Promotions) (Hotel/Motel Taxes)

The committee members love input from business members and non-business members when deciding what to support and what not to support in our community. Voice your opinion on where you think L.A.P. funding could be best applied, what festivals and events need attention. With direct participation, and only with local participation can the true direction of our wonderful community be fully appreciated. Monies are to be used solely for marketing Leavenworth, and used to keep our communities energetic world class momentum going!

Step up...and join the team, call today with your great ideas!

Bill Wells/city - 1-509-548-7811
Peter DeVries/city - 1-509-548-4132
Denny Nichols/chamber - 1-509-548-4207
John Dawson/chamber - 1-509-548-5456
Karl Ruether/lodging - 1-509-782-4028

Interesting Opinion of the Washington State Attorney General with regards to what the Hotel/Motel taxes can & cannot be used for.

"AG’s opinion may affect city’s tourism funding"

By Paula Horton
Daily World Writer

Article as it appears on page A3, Tuesday, March 7, 2006 in the Daily World newspaper, Twin Harbors , Wa .

"A recent opinion by the state attorney general on how money collected from a lodging tax can be spent may impact the way the City of Aberdeen allocates funds to groups and events each year.

Money in the city’s hotel/motel tax fund is collected through taxes on lodging businesses for the purpose of promoting tourism. A balance built up in the tax fund for years and the city now typically allocates new revenue and interest/donations to groups who apply for funding.

An advisory committee makes recommendations to the City Council on how much each one should get, but the council has the final say on distribution amounts.

Last year, $83,000 was distributed to nine community organizations or activities, including the Grays Harbor Chamber of commerce, Rain or Shine Jazz Festival, Washington State Power lifting Championship, Harbor Heritage Festival, Aberdeen Museum of History and Splash, the city’s fourth of July celebration.

The attorney general’s opinion, however, says that the city cannot allocate hotel/motel tax funds to operate a tourism-related facility if it has no ownership interest in it; it cannot give money to special events or festivals if they are operated by a non-governmental entity and it cannot give advance payment to private organizations for tourism promotion. If the City Council were to follow a strict interpretation of the opinion, that means, for example the jazz festival could get money from the city to help pay for advertising, but it would have to spend the money first and get reimbursement.

It could also mean that the city wouldn’t be able to give money to the jazz festival, because it’s not operated by the city.

City Attorney Eric Nelson, however, said that the attorney general chooses to ignore key language in the statute that may make it acceptable to give money to festivals or events not run by the city.

“The way I look at this, is the council has to decide at some point what risk it wants to take and what the consequences might be if the attorney general turns out to be right,” Nelson told the council recently. “There is support for what the council has been doing in terms of hotel/motel…but now in the attorney general’s opinion, those are improper expenditures.

“…If you were to approve an expenditure that is contrary to what the attorney general wants, the auditor may rely on the attorney general’s opinion and say you were wrong.”

The attorney general’s opinion is just that – an opinion, Nelson said, but in the absence of a court decision, it’s one of the most authoritative interpretations of state law.

He also said he thinks the city has more discretion in the use of the hotel/motel tax than what’s specified in the opinion, but added that City Council should keep in mind the purpose of the tax – to increase overnight stays at hotel and motels in the city.

The hotel/motel tax advisory committee is expected to meet later this month or next month to determine how to disburse the money this year.

“We’ll probably use this as a guideline, not as a rule,” said Councilman Paul Fritts, chairman of the hotel/motel tax advisory committee. “In the end we don’t have the money to fight a lawsuit or end up having to take money out of the general fund.

“Whether we agree with the opinion or not, we have to keep it in mind.”"

Paula Horton, a Daily World

Writer, can be reached at

1-360-532-4000, ext. 132 ,

by e-mail: phorton@thedailyworld.com

More Information?, click the link below....

www.ATG.WA.gov
left side of the page, "opinions" - search - lodging tax

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