News : HOT Grants Distributed to area Organizations: Benton County Historical Society

Melody Snow of Vinton Unlimited presents Sharon Happel with a check for the Benton County Historical Society

In 2017, the voters of Vinton passed a ballot measure to establish a 7% hotel/motel tax within the City limits. The tax went into effect on July 1, 2018. Per the Code of Iowa, funds collected must be spent on recreation, convention, cultural or entertainment facilities. Vinton Unlimited has established the Vinton Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) Grant program provides financial support to local organizations for community events, cultural and recreational programming, tourism and various other projects.

The HOT Grant accepts applications in the fall and announces grant awards early in the winter.

This year the HOT Grant committee will be dispersing $25,500 from money received through the Hotel Occupancy Tax in 2021. The projects are designed to promote Vinton through events that will draw visitors into the community, which in return will promote Vinton and help boost the economy.

HOT Grant Committee members include: Matt Boggess, representing VPRD; Phil Borleske, representing Destination Vinton Committee; Tami Stark, representing City Council; and Melody Snow, representing Vinton Unlimited.

The first recipient of the winter 2022 HOT Grant was the Benton County Historical Society in the amount of $2,000 for Civil War Re-enactors at the Depot the weekend of Boomtown.

To apply for a grant click here! HOT Grant Application.pdf(Review)- Adobe Document Cloud