Last Tuesday, Brownsville city commissioners cast a split vote after struggling to agree on how to approach allocation of the HOT funds, money collected from the Hotel Occupancy Tax which is then granted to organizations that attract tourism.
Due to the fact that the Mitte Cultural District was among the organizations requesting HOT funds, Roy De Los Santos, Brownsville District 3 city commissioner and a board member of the Mitte Foundation that created the district, temporarily withdrew himself from the meeting to avoid a conflict of interest.
In 1998, the Mitte Foundation, which hosts the goal of supporting community organizations, began a $3 million endeavor to refurbish Dean Porter Park and created the Mitte Cultural District in Brownsville to stimulate cultural, historical and educational awareness in the community, according to its website.
Following De Los Santos’ exit, Miguel Cavazos, budget officer for the City of Brownsville, and Monica Tellam, interim Communications and Marketing director, began a presentation of the HOT fund requests, which were tabled during the Aug. 16 meeting due to concerns raised by commissioners.
“We are recommending, with this budget, to fill the requests as [they were] received,” Cavazos said. “We will be using both the Fiscal Year 2023 proposed budget as well as one-time funding for the Brownsville Historic Preservation and the Gorgas Science Foundation.”
Nurith Galonsky, Brownsville District 1 city commissioner, moved to address certain requests individually, such as the submissions from the Sombrero Festival and the Mitte Cultural District. Pedro Cardenas, Brownsville District 4 city commissioner, seconded the motion, which was then passed.
Sombrero Festival representatives, who have never applied for money from the city before, were called forward, and said the requested $100,000 would go toward “the production cost in promoting the event.”
“We felt that, at this point, it would be helpful for us to go ahead and apply for [funds] so that we could use it, again, to do what we’ve been doing [in regard to promotion] but be able to also keep our ticket [prices] low, so that it’s open and available to the community,” said Michelle Garcia, chief marketing officer for Sombrero Festival.
Galonsky said the HOT funds are used to help bring in tourism, which the festival already accomplishes without city funding.
Similar concerns were raised about the fund request submitted by the Mitte Cultural District, which requested $40,000, also solely for marketing purposes.
“A majority of that goes for advertising for the Mitte Cultural District,” said Veronica Garcia, executive director of the Mitte Cultural District. “So we have several events that we’d be focusing [on] that would be digital and social media and actual print advertising, as well.
“There’s also a portion for promotional items to be purchased, and there’s also a portion for travel for tourism.”
The funds would be used for promotion of the district as a whole, or “umbrella advertising.”
Galonksy, Cardenas, Mayor Pro Tem Jessica Tetreau, and John Cowen, city commissioner
At-Large “A,” all raised concerns about “double advertising,” as organizations that fall under this “umbrella” already have individual budgets for promotion.
Following discussion, Galonksy moved to grant requested funds to all organizations except for the Mitte Cultural District and Sombrero Festival. This means the district and festival would each receive no money from the HOT funds.
Before a second could be made, Tetreau made her own motion to grant requested funds to all organizations, including the Sombrero Festival, in full, and only half the requested funds, or $20,000, to the cultural district.
When no one seconded this motion either, Cardenas moved to grant funds to all organizations in full, except the district and festival, which he suggested each receive half the requested funds, $20,000 and $50,000 respectively.
This motion was seconded, but failed to pass for a lack of majority vote as Galonksy, Cardenas and Tetreau voted in favor, and Cowen, Rose Gowen, commissioner At-Large “B,” and Mayor Trey Mendez, who were both present via Zoom, voted against.
Gowen then moved to approve the HOT fund allocation as is, approving all funding requests presented, with the condition that the application process be amended to include supervision from the commission starting next fiscal year. The motion passed 4-2, with Galonksy and Cardenas opposing the motion.
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