Event organizers urge commission to increase hotel/motel allocations to support festivals and cultural nonprofits

Multiple event organizers, nonprofit leaders and arts advocates urged the Athens-Clarke County Commission on May 5 to increase allocations from the hotel/motel tax and community enhancement funds to support the city’s festival ecosystem.

Representatives from Afest, the Twilight Criterium, Wild Rumpus, LatinxFest, the Athens Film Festival, Nuçi’s Space and other groups described the events’ cultural and economic contributions and rising costs for police overtime, dispatch fees and production. Timmy Connley of the Special Events Collective said the group seeks a larger portion of hotel/motel revenue and requested that the FY27 budget allocate $500,000 for events; he cited a $1.3 million downtown economic impact from one event that received $35,000 in city support.

Several speakers framed festivals as tourism drivers that support downtown businesses. Lizzie Zooker Salts noted that the Classic Center currently receives about 54% of hotel/motel tax proceeds—above the state-required minimum of 42.85%—and urged commissioners to consider reallocating discretionary portions to grassroots events. Nuçi’s Space and other event organizers described rising operating costs and argued that modest public investments can yield outsized local economic returns.

Commissioners acknowledged the requests and said the budget work sessions scheduled for May 12 and 14 will include further discussion. Multiple commissioners also suggested exploring a future local advocacy effort to increase the hotel/motel tax rate as a way to expand available revenue for events.