|
Thursday, 25 June 2009 |
 Amador County – The Jackson City Council on Monday reviewed recommendations for the use of the 2008 Measure E funding and determined allocation of these funds. The recommendations came from the council-appointed Measure E Advisory Committee, which consists of Stan Lukowicz, Paul Molinelli, Jr., Tom Peyton, Tracey Berkner, Atul Patel and Councilman Keith Sweet. Voters approved Measure E in 2002, raising the City’s Transient Occupancy Tax from 8 to 10 percent. A resolution passed by the council soon thereafter declared “that the first priority expenditure of the additional 2 percent…shall be tourism and business promotion, economic development and downtown revitalization.” Vying for a portion of the funding were previous year’s recipients: the Amador Chamber of Commerce and the Amador Council of Tourism, or ACT. Funding for ACT has traditionally been divvied out to associations under the agency’s umbrella, including Main Street Theatre Works and the Historic Jackson Business Association, or HJBA. Also requesting funds was a website called InTownLive.com, which features online interactive panoramas of small towns in California. Council members had mixed feelings about giving a portion to InTownLive.com. Jackson resident Frank Blauvelt, Jr., yelled out from the audience that although the site is well assembled, he didn’t think giving them money was effective.
The Measure E Committee recommended giving $9,000 to the HJBA, $8,000 to ACT, $4,000 to the Main Street Theatre Works, $9,000 to the Amador County Chamber of Commerce and $2,000 to InTownLive.com. Speaking on behalf of the Amador Council of Tourism, Maureen Funk said, “we are able to multiply six times the dollar investments we receive by partnering and negotiating with advertisers.” The council voted 4-1 to approve the committee’s recommendation, with Councilman Pat Crew opposed. Crew was also against allocating funds for InTownLive.com, but admitted he’s “not much of an internet guy.” Story by Alex Lane
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
