The Salem Cultural and Tourism Promotion Advisory Board, which makes recommendations to the City Council on the use of the transient occupancy tax (TOT), recently took a vote approving some changes, still pending final approval by Council.

Policy C-1, set by Council to manage TOT dollars (9 percent City tax for every dollar spent in a hotel room), expires every three years, and it's due to expire October 31st.

In Salem, TOT money is reinvested into the tourism industry. "We are very fortunate in that that money is spent on things that can be considered tourism, making the fund self perpetuating," said Scott Snyder, general manager of the Grand Hotel and a voting member of the advisory board.

The board is recommending City Council to change the percentage of funds granted for different activities. Right now, no less than 55 percent of the TOT money goes to operating grants for eleven local organizations: Salem Art Association, Deepwood Estates, Marion County Historical Society, AC Gilbert, Riverfront Carousel, Grand Theater, Friends of the Visual Arts, Hallie Ford Museum, Salem Multicultural Institute, Mission Mill Museum and Elsinore Theater. The proposed change will increase their operating funds to 60 percent.

Special events would also have an increase in funding under the new recommendations, from 25 percent ($87,500) to 30 percent ($105,000), while the amount for capital asset improvement (improvements and repairs for the eleven), would be reduced from 20 percent to 10 percent at the most, in order to increase the percentage for the other two activities.

Some of the events that are regularly funded include the Salem Art Fair and the World Beat festival, but the public is welcome to apply for TOT dollars to fund their events. "Anyone could apply for TOT dollars, and if event meets the criteria set by Council, they would be eligible," said Snyder.

In addition, the board is considering a proposal to freeze new applications: "If we are unable to establish the criteria that is going to be used for operating funds by the October 31st deadline, we would freeze applications for a year or until we are able to have the criteria in place, so that we wouldn't have new entities applying ... To protect the eleven," said Snyder, adding that the list is currently limited to those organizations because, "Operating funds are not easy to break into. They are very defined [being a major tourist attraction in salem, for example]." The eleven are also able to apply for more funding for their special events.

The board can change the application process for special event funding yearly, but if they haven't come up with a proposal before deadline, applications would remain as they are, he said.

The deadline for those interested in applying for special event funds is November. The nine member advisory board reviews the information and makes a decision by February.

At the meeting, several representatives from local organizations expressed concern over the drop in TOT funds. The 2008-2009 budget was $3,264,870 while the 2009-2010 budget was $2,927,900.

A representative of the Historical Society said they've had to reduce the number of employees from sixty to one. Some also said that a proposal to end startup grants for new organizations after five to seven years was a bad idea. Snyder said ending the funding after self-sufficiency is achieved would open up funds for new events, "So that there's always something to do in Salem instead of nothing to do in Salem."

The Salem Cultural and Tourism Promotion Advisory Board meets at 5:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month. Members of the public are encouraged to attend.