HOT FUND APPLICATION and POLICY DRAFT for consideration

[Norma Owen]

Item XII.2 February 19, 2026

For Council consideration, this is a draft of an application

 

[Shane Saum]

This policy is on the agenda for 4/2. We will have the Mayor Pro Tem's document above and adding Brad's policy document that he sent to council previously. As well as documents from other council members. Brad's policy doc needs work shopped on here prior to that meeting. The tax rate needs updated and a few other items we discussed a couple of months ago.

 

[Norma Owen]

Thank you for uploading Brad's policy document Mayor. To add to our dialogue, I wanted to share an example of a Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) Fund application from another Texas city as a reference point for how these programs are typically structured and evaluated.

What stands out in this example is how clearly each request is tied to:

• The statutory eligibility categories
• Specific tourism-related activities (such as advertising and promotion)
• Measurable outcomes like attendance and hotel room nights
• Detailed budgets broken down by activity rather than general operations
• Pre- and post-event accountability, including receipts and reporting

I personally find the HOT Fund state law is complex and nuanced. My hope is that examples like this can help us support our local partners by providing clearer guidance on how to structure requests in a way that aligns with State law and positions them for success.