By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City council members have put their stamp of approval on the distribution of hotel
occupancy tax (HOT) funds for Fiscal Year 2024-2025.
The council considered the distribution of the HOT funds during their most recent
meeting on Jan. 14.
After City Secretary Mari Acosta read the heading of the agenda item, Mayor Al Arreola
called on Assistant City Manager Manuel Chavez to speak to the council.
Chavez told the council the city anticipates receiving about $1.12 million in HOT funds
over the course of the current fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1, 2024, and ends on Sept.
30.
Chavez said, “What we are presenting here tonight and we’re requesting from council, is
to approve the distribution to the agencies that have submitted HOT funds applications on
an annual basis.”
Chavez said on Oct. 22, 2024, the council approved a HOT funds review committee, and
that committee reviewed six HOT fund request applications.
Chavez added, “Any city receiving any HOT funds has certain requirements that they
have to meet in order to qualify to receive HOT funds in the future. One of those is
making sure that every year, there’s at least one-seventh that gets expensed to promote
and advertise the respective city.
“In our case, we do have two agencies that have applied and are going to be
recommended (for funding) to meet that requirement, and I’ll go over that in a bit. The
other requirement is that every year on March 1, the city must submit an annual report
indicating what was used during the year regarding the HOT funds, and I usually submit
that, certify the expenses,” Chavez said.
He also told the council, “I want to say that the (HOT funds review) committee has
recommended the same amounts (of disbursements) as was adopted in last year’s
budget.”
He then reviewed the recommended disbursements with council, including the “two
agencies that applied for and qualified for the advertisement of the city,” the Del Rio
Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Del Rio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Chavez said the review committee recommended a disbursement of 35 percent of the
HOT funds, $392,000, to the convention and visitors bureau, and a distribution of 10
percent, $112,000, to the Del Rio Hispanic Chamber.
“As mentioned, these two would meet the required amount, one-seventh, of the HOT
funds,” Chavez said.
Chavez noted the review committee also recommended a $55,000 distribution to the
Whitehead Memorial Museum, $15,000 to the Brown Plaza Association, $48,000 to the
Casa De La Cultura and $26,250 to the Del Rio Council for the Arts.
Chavez further explained the organizations that receive a HOT funds distribution get their
payments quarterly throughout the city’s fiscal year.
The HOT funds budget also includes a $110,000 transfer to the general fund for the
operation of the Del Rio Civic Center, an $80,000 distribution to the HOT funds
committee for singular requests throughout the year and a $48,900 payout for a project to
create way-finding signs for the city.
After Chavez finished, Arreola asked if there were any questions.
Chavez added that Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus and Councilwoman Ernestina “Tina”
Martinez were member of the review committee, as well as himself, Assistant Finance
Director Roxy Soto and Michael Garcia, city grants writer and assistant to the city
manager.
Martinez told the council, “I think this is a fair distribution. It’s based on last year’s, and,
as you all know, almost 90 percent (of the organizations funded) are made up of
volunteers, and being a volunteer is a lot of work. They do this for the community, and I
want to thank each and every one of the organizations. . . They bring tourism to the city,
and like I mentioned, they’re volunteers, and I think we should all thank each and every
one of them. Been there and done that, for so many years, so I know how much work it
is. Again, thank you to all the entities and the volunteers for all these organizations.”
DeReus also had some comments.
“First, the amount we anticipate getting versus how much we’re doing right now. We did
intentionally leave some, because there could be other groups that come in looking for
some (funding). The individuals, the groups that are getting the annual disbursement
tonight, can also come back for specific, one-time events.
“On that note, we have some statutory limitations. HOT funds, every dollar has to be
directly tied to an event or an activity with the intent of bringing tourists, ‘heads in beds,’
so there are sometimes things we deny. It might be a great thing, we’d love to support it,
but we can’t use those types of funds because it’s a local event, compared to bringing
people in from outside, so that’s part of the struggle that we go through on the committee
every year when we’re looking through the applications,” DeReus said.
Arreola asked if there were any more comments and hearing none, asked for a motion.
“I’ll make a motion to approve as presented,” DeReus said.
Councilman J.P. Sanchez gave the second.
The council then voted unanimously to approve the HOT funds distribution as presented.
Reach the writer at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
