Council approves joint recommendations for $15.5 million in hospitality tax competitive awards

Evan Raleigh (City Manager’s Office) presented the review panel’s recommendations for the FY‑26 hospitality tax competitive awards. He summarized the program’s provenance (state authorization of occupancy and prepared food & beverage taxes in 1991), the 2023 interlocal amendment that set aside $23.5 million for projects (with $8 million for county‑only awards and $15.5 million jointly awarded), and the review process that produced this year’s slate.

Raleigh said the review team received 22 proposals totaling hundreds of millions in project value and roughly $7.6 billion in asks across the slate (as presented), and he described evaluation criteria used by an interdisciplinary review panel. The recommended joint slate would allocate the $15.5 million to nine projects; one Holly Springs project was flagged with an asterisk for splitting between award buckets based on numeric fit in the funding plan.

Council members asked about proposer feedback, distribution of revenue by municipality (staff said Raleigh accounted for about 63% of occupancy tax collections and about 55% of PFB in FY25), and whether proposers would receive scoring feedback — staff said proposers were contacted in advance and staff can provide additional transparency on scoring rubrics on request. The county had approved its awards at its meeting the night before.

Council then moved to approve the recommended slate for joint awards; the motion passed by voice vote. Staff said award agreements would be executed with the county and disbursement terms and reporting requirements would be set in those agreements.