(A) Funds generated from the hotel tax shall be used for the promotion of tourism in the county through funding marketing activities and promotion of individual events in the county that highlight the historical, cultural and agricultural heritage of the county.
(B)
The purpose of funding of events from the Tourism Fund is to bring tourists from outside of the county into the county; encourage overnight stays in motels, hotels and bed and breakfast establishments located in the county; provide an environment for collateral tourist commercial activity in county businesses, and perpetuate a climate for the growth in the tourism industry in the county.
(C)
Requests for the funding of events shall be submitted to the Tourism Committee of the County Board through the completion of the Tourism Fund application form. The information requested in the formal application, or provided in a comparable format, is supplied for consideration of the grant request. In order to ensure that adequate study and consideration is given to a particular event or request for funding, applications for funding shall be made no later than two months prior to the date of the event for which funding is sought.
(D) No funding will be granted to an event organized to solely benefit or serve to profit a business, private group of individuals, or a single individual.
(E) No funding will be granted for fundraising events sponsored by churches, schools or other organizations whose purpose and proceeds are not dedicated to the goal of encouraging tourism in the county. Grant funding shall not be issued by the county to an individual or organization that owes any personal taxes or real estate taxes that are delinquent in payment to the county. Grant funding shall not be issued to a person or persons or an organization with unpaid fines or costs assessed by the Circuit Court of the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Jersey County.
(F) (1) Funding requests for events sponsored by not-for-profit organizations, shall be accompanied with a copy of the most recent annual and financial reports submitted to the Illinois Secretary of State’s office. In addition, a copy of the most recent organization audit or financial statement is also required as part of the application.
(2) In order to determine their purpose and membership, not-for-profit organizations seeking funding for events shall also submit a copy of their by-laws and a listing of their current officers and members of their board of directors.
(G) Funding requests for events held in municipalities that collect and expend funds derived from a hotel tax shall make application to that funding municipality prior to applying to the county. The results of the funding application to the municipality shall be attached to the county application. Any funding received from other tax-collecting entities must be reported on the county application.
(H) Applications for funding from the county shall contain a detailed plan for the expenditure of the funds. The aforementioned plan shall contain information related to advertising of the event in print or electronic media.
(I) (1) The purpose of the Tourism Fund is the encouragement of tourism and publicizing the county as a tourism destination.
(2) No expenditures shall be made for construction projects or as a reimbursement for construction costs, or for costs related to building maintenance, physical upkeep of grounds, or custodial expenses of facilities and structures or the purchase of property.
(J) In order to ensure that there are adequate funds available for the development and marketing of tourism in the county, the County Board reserves the right to approve grant requests at a lesser level than that sought in the application.
(Res. passed 3-11-2003; Ord. passed 9-13-2022)