Legion Arts gets unused hotel/motel tax money for CSPS revamp

The City Council this week agreed to give Legion Arts and its flood-damaged arts and entertainment venue, the CSPS Hall in New Bohemia, $150,000 from previously unused hotel/motel tax revenue.

The money will go along other funds that Legion Arts has secured for the project - $4.8 million in state I-JOBS funds; $1.2 million in state historic tax credits; and a $225,000 matching grant from the Hall-Perrine Foundation.

The city's hotel/motel funds for the project come from a carry-over fund which the City Council established in 2007 to make sure there is money to honor allocations made to recipients in a given year.

In fiscal year 2009, which ended June 30, 2008, the city generated $477,000 more in hotel/motel revenue that it needed. The next year, the city generated $121 less than had been budgeted to be spent.

After the $150,000 given to Legion Arts, the carry-over fund has $206,000 remaining in it, according to the city.