MARFA — Marfa City Council members met last week to distribute the first round of hotel occupancy tax (HOT) grants and to schedule interviews for the city manager position.
All council members were present with the exception of Mark Cash. Citizens representing local cultural organizations first spoke in support of their HOT grant applications. Grants are awarded in the fall and the spring; applications for the next round of funding open in March 2025.
Council members then heard funding recommendations from the HOT grant committee, which includes Mayor Manny Baeza, Mayor Pro Tem Raul Lara and Tourism Director Jennifer Conners. The committee is appointed by the City Council and is “comprised of representatives from local tourism, arts, and preservation fields, as well as Marfa citizens,” according to the city’s website.
Per state law, HOT revenue must be spent on promoting tourism activities. The majority of locally collected HOT funds go towards the overall Tourism and Convention Center budget, which pays for salaries, USO building maintenance, advertising and more.
This year, the city budgeted to receive $745,000 in HOT revenue, up from $700,000 the previous year. Of that projected revenue, $35,000 was allocated for arts and culture promotion, $51,000 for historic preservation events, $20,000 for advertising and $12,000 for sports event promotion. The council also budgeted $80,000 for the historic preservation of buildings.
Line items for arts and culture promotion and advertising have remained the same for the past three years.
Baeza explained that $17,500 — half of the arts and culture budget line item — had to be spread across entities this grant cycle. He explained that the HOT grant coffers, particularly for advertising reimbursements, were low due to the fact that the city is spending money on upgrading its own facilities for the public, a similar situation as last year.
“It’s been brought to our attention that they’re asking why we don’t have more money for advertising grants. But right now, we just spent $200,000 on the restrooms out at the USO building, we’re fixing up the MAC building,” Baeza said. “We’re trying to [outfit] Marfa with two very nice venues for people to use for all of these events.”
Council members voted unanimously to approve the recommendations as presented.
The Marfa100 will receive around $6,000 for sports event promotion and advertising reimbursement. The Marfa and Presidio County Museum will receive $10,000 for historic preservation. The Chinati Foundation will receive $10,000 for historic preservation for Chinati Weekend and $7,000 in arts and culture promotion and advertising reimbursements for a project with Intertribal Noise.
The Marfa Chamber of Commerce requested $22,500 and was awarded $6,000 for three separate events from the arts and culture fund.
In Front Of Us film series, Tierra y Qué gallery, Marfa Live Arts and the Marfa Municipal Alliance for Dead County Folk Singers were each awarded $2,000 for arts and culture events. Marfa Live Arts received an additional advertising grant of $2,500 plus $500 for the use of the USO.
Pat Keesey, of the Marfa Municipal Alliance, reached out the The Big Bend Sentinel following the news of their grant award to state that the band will not be able to hold the event, a New Year’s Eve celebration, as planned due to the fact they were not approved for their required budget, $7,500.
“The offer was lower than the grant for our debut 2023 NYE event, and less than 33% of what we applied for which still would have been a tight budget for a 20-plus musician show, with a rented sound system, a bar and three bands,” Keesey wrote. “We understand the committee has to spread the money around for other programs that are equally important, but we are sorry to say that we are unable to put an event together like we hosted last year for the budget offered.”
Council members also discussed next steps regarding the city manager position. Previous City Manager Mandy Roane resigned in September; Council then voted to appoint city secretary Kelly Perez as interim city manager and open up applications in early October.
The deadline to apply for the job is 3 p.m. Thursday, November 7. Baeza said as of the meeting time he had received eight applications. Council members and the mayor decided to form a hiring committee, which will meet soon to narrow down applicants before the interview process with the entire city council.
The hiring committee consists of Police Chief Gilberto Carrillo — Councilmember Eddie Pallarez advocated for a city department head to be represented — councilmembers Pallarez and Mark Morrison and the mayor. The special meeting where council members will interview city manager candidates, in closed session, is set to take place at 6 p.m. November 19.