(A) The Common Council of the City of Glasgow and the Fiscal Court hereby jointly creates and establishes the Glasgow/Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission for the purpose of promoting convention and tourist activity within the City of Glasgow and the county with the exception of that part of the county presently under the jurisdiction of the Cave City Tourist and Convention Commission. The Glasgow/Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission shall be governed by KRS 91A.350(2) and other applicable provisions of the Kentucky Revised Statutes as they now exist and as they may hereafter be amended, and said Commission shall have all the authority, powers, duties, and obligations granted to it by these statutes.
(B) The territory covered by this section shall be all of that territory within the City of Glasgow, and within the county, excluding that territory within the City of Cave City, which is now included in the territory of the Cave City Tourist and Convention Commission.
(C) All references to the Commission shall refer only to the Glasgow/Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission.
(D) The Glasgow/Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission shall be composed of seven members to be appointed jointly by the Mayor of the City of Glasgow and the County Judge/Executive, in the following manner:
(1) Two Commissioners from a list of three or more names submitted by the local city hotel and motel association;
(2) One Commissioner from a list of three or more names submitted by the local county hotel and motel association; provided, that if only one local hotel and motel association exists which covers both the city and county, then three Commissioners shall be appointed from a list of six or more names submitted by it. If no formal local city or county hotel and motel association is in existence upon the establishment of a Commission or upon the expiration of the term of a Commissioner appointed pursuant to division (D)(1) above and this division (D)(2), then up to three Commissioners shall be appointed from a list of six or more names of persons residing within the jurisdiction of the Commission, submitted by the Commonwealth Hotel and Motel Association. A local city or county hotel or motel association shall not be required to be affiliated with the Commonwealth Hotel and Motel Association to be recognized as the official local city or county hotel and motel association;
(3) One Commissioner from a list of three or more names submitted by the local restaurant association or associations. If no formal local restaurant association or associations exists upon the establishment of a Commission or upon the expiration of the term of a Commissioner appointed pursuant to this division (D)(3), then one Commissioner shall be appointed from a list of three or more names of persons residing within the jurisdiction of the Commission, submitted by the Commonwealth Restaurant Association. A local restaurant association or associations shall not be required to be affiliated with the Commonwealth Restaurant Association to be recognized as the official local restaurant association or associations;
(4) One Commissioner from a list of three or more names submitted by the chamber or chambers of commerce existing within the City of Glasgow and within the county excluding that territory within the City of Cave City which is included in the territory within which the Cave City Tourist and Convention Commission imposes a transient room tax and restaurant tax as of the effective date of this section. Each chamber of commerce within the territory covered by this section shall submit a list of three names, and the Mayor of the City of Glasgow and the County Judge/Executive jointly shall appoint one Commission member from the aggregate list;
(5) One Commissioner by the Mayor of the City of Glasgow; and
(6) One Commissioner by the County Judge/Executive.
(E) A candidate submitted for appointment to the Commission, pursuant to divisions (D)(1) to (D)(4) above, shall be appointed by the Mayor of the City of Glasgow and the County Judge/Executive, within 30 days of the receipt of the required list or lists; if not, the association or associations shall by election within ten days, determine the Commissioner from the list or lists submitted by plurality vote of the aggregate membership.
(F) Vacancies shall be filled in the same manner that the original appointments are made.
(G) The Commissioners shall be appointed for terms of three years; provided, that in making the initial appointments, the Mayor of the City of Glasgow and the County Judge/Executive, shall appoint two Commissioners for a term of three years, two Commissioners for a term of two years, and three Commissioners for a term of one year. There shall be no limitation on the number of terms to which a Commissioner is reappointed. Subsequent appointments shall be for three-year terms.
(H) The Commission shall elect from its membership a Chairperson and a Treasurer, and may employ such personnel and make such contracts as are necessary to carry out the purpose of KRS 91A.350 to KRS 91A.390 as they now exist and as they may hereafter be amended. The contracts may include, but shall not be limited to, the procurement of promotional services, advertising services, and other services and materials relating to the promotion of tourist and convention business. Contracts of the type enumerated shall be made only with persons, organizations, and firms with experience and qualifications for providing promotional services and materials, such as advertising firms, chambers of commerce, publishers, and printers.
(I) The books of the Glasgow/Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission shall be audited annually by an independent auditor who shall make a report to the Commission, to associations submitting lists of names from which Commission members are selected, the Mayor of the City of Glasgow, to the County Judge/Executive, and to the Common Council of the City of Glasgow, and the Fiscal Court. A copy of the audit reports shall be available by the Glasgow/Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission to members of the public upon request and at no charge.
(J) A Commissioner may be removed from office, by joint or separate action, of the Common Council of the City of Glasgow, or the Fiscal Court, as provided by KRS 65.007, as it now exists and as it may hereafter be amended.
(K) The Glasgow/Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission shall annually submit to the City of Glasgow and the Fiscal Court, a request for funds for the operation of the Commission for the ensuing year or for the balance of the fiscal year of the initial adoption of this section. The Common Council of the City of Glasgow shall include the Commission in its annual budget in an amended budget for the balance of the fiscal year of initial adoption of this section and the Fiscal Court shall include the Commission in its annual budget (or in an amended budget for the balance of the fiscal year of initial adoption of this section), and both of them shall provide funds for the operation of the Commission by imposing a transient room tax of up to 3% of the rent for every occupancy of a suite, room, or rooms, charged by all persons, companies, corporations, or other like or similar persons, groups, or organizations doing business as motor courts, motels, hotels, inns, or like or similar accommodations businesses. The transient room tax imposed by this section shall not apply to the rental or leasing of an apartment supplied by an individual or business that regularly holds itself as exclusively providing apartments. For the purposes of this section, APARTMENT means a room or set of rooms, in an apartment building or other multiple-family structure, fitted especially with a kitchen, and usually leased as a dwelling for a minimum of 30 days or more.
(L) A portion of the money collected from the imposition of this tax, as determined by the Common Council of the City of Glasgow and the Fiscal Court, may be used to finance the cost of acquisition, construction, operation, and maintenance of facilities useful in the attraction and promotion of tourist and convention business and shall include athletic stadiums. The balance of the money collected from the imposition of this tax shall be used for the purposes set forth in KRS 91A.350, as it now exists and as it may hereafter be amended. Proceeds of the tax shall not be used as a subsidy in any form to any hotel, motel, or restaurant. Money not expended by the Glasgow/Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission during any fiscal year shall be used to make up a part of the Commission’s budget for its next fiscal year.
(M) The Glasgow/Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission, with the approval of the Common Council of the City of Glasgow and the Fiscal Court, may borrow money to pay its obligations that cannot be paid at maturity out of current revenue from the transient room tax, but shall not borrow a sum greater that can be paid out of the revenue anticipated from the transient room tax during the year the money is borrowed. The Glasgow/Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission may pledge securities for the repayment of any sum borrowed.
(N) The fiscal year of the Commission shall begin July 1 and end on June 30 of each year.
(O) All persons, firms, organizations, or other like or similar persons, groups, or organizations doing business as motor courts, motels, hotels, inns, or other like or similar accommodations businesses shall collect and pay transient room tax to the Treasury of the City of Glasgow on a monthly basis on or before the fifteenth of the next month immediately following the month in which the transient room taxes are collected and at the same time shall file a return on a form provided by the Commission for such purpose.
(P) The Mayor of Glasgow and the County Judge/Executive, or their duly-authorized agents, are empowered to examine the books, papers, and records of any person, firm, organization, or other like or similar accommodation business required in this division (P) to file a return. Said examination shall be permitted in order to determine the accuracy of any return made, or if no return was made, to determine the amount of room tax due and owing.
(Q) Any transient room tax imposed by this section remaining unpaid after it becomes due shall bear interest at the rate of 10% of the amount of the unpaid tax.
(R) All base amounts collected by the City of Glasgow in the ten-day payment period as provided in this division (R) shall be paid over to the Glasgow/Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission within 30 days, until the budget for the current fiscal year has been paid over to the Commission. Amounts received by the City of Glasgow during the fiscal year, and subsequent to the funding of the fully-approved budget of the Commission, shall be retained by the City of Glasgow in a separate fund, to be utilized only for the purpose of funding subsequent years’ approved Commission budget, and/or expenditure by the City of Glasgow and the county for purposes permitted by KRS 91A.350, and jointly agreed upon by the Glasgow City Council and the County Fiscal Court. Late payments collected by the City of Glasgow shall be paid over to the Commission within 30 days after receipt, subject to same provisions contained in the preceding sentence.
(S) This section becomes effective immediately upon final adoption of this section by the Common Council of the City of Glasgow, the county, and the County Fiscal Court and publication as required by law.
(T) The Barren County Fiscal Court and Glasgow City Council has levied a transient room tax of 3% of the gross rental income on the rent for every occupancy of a suite, room, rooms, cabins, lodgings, campsites, or other accommodations charged by any hotel, motel, inn, tourist camp, tourist cabin, campgrounds, recreational vehicle, parks, or any other place in which accommodations are regularly furnished to transients for consideration or by any person that facilitates the rental of the accommodations by brokering, coordinating, or in any other way arranging for the rental of the accommodations in Barren County, Kentucky, to be collected by such persons, companies, and corporations on behalf of the Treasurer. The tax levied herein shall be deemed collectible from and enforceable against the owner of the property in question and/or the third-party broker or facilitator.
(U) All entities or persons subject to the transient room tax levied in division (T) must on or before the 20th day of the month following close, file a return with the Treasurer of the City of Glasgow or designated agent of the Fiscal Court setting forth the aggregate amount of the gross rental charges during the preceding calendar month for every occupancy of a suite, room, or rooms, together with such pertinent information as the Treasurer or designated agent may require. Such information shall be of a confidential nature and be open to inspection by the public but shall be for the use and benefit of the designated agents of the Glasgow City Council and Barren County Fiscal Court of the Treasurer only.
(Ord. 312, passed 3-2-1999; Ord. 319, passed 5-18-1999; Ord. 320, passed 5-18-1999; Ord. 392, passed 6-17-2003; Ord. 678, passed 12-20-2022) Penalty, see §
31.99