205 W 5th Ave Ellensburg, WA 98926-2887
Monday - Friday 8 AM - 5 PM
Kittitas (pronounced 'KITT-i-tass') County is located in central Washington State. It spans from the lush forested Cascade Mountains to the upper Yakima River Valley plains and the Columbia River.
Kittitas County, WA - 03/20/2017 - Kittitas County is now accepting applications for its Tourism-Related, Large-Scale, Municipality-Owned Capital Projects program. Large-scale projects are defined in the application as those which request funding support of greater than $50,000.00. There is no maximum cost for a project. The application is posted online at the County's website or may be picked up in person at the Commissioner's office at the County Courthouse in Ellensburg.
The large-scale capital projects program is a new addition to the County’s lodging tax grant offerings. It is intended to further implement the Goals and Actions outlined in the Kittitas County Tourism Infrastructure Plan adopted in 2015. Under this new program, municipalities can apply to have projects placed on a capital improvement program list. In order to qualify to be placed on the list projects must be municipality-owned, be tourism-related, and able to be completed in five years. The County’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) will evaluate the applications received, rate them, and recommend up to ten projects to be placed on the capital improvement program list. The Board of County Commissioners will make the final determination. Once projects are included on the list, they will be required to follow a four-step process which includes feasibility, planning, design, and construction. The process will be reviewed and administered by the County’s LTAC and a Technical Review Team (TRT) created specifically to assist in moving projects forward. Projects are eligible for funding assistance through the County’s program during the design and construction steps of the process. All eligible projects will compete for funding as it is made available. “We are looking for big ideas with this new process,” stated Kittitas County Commissioner Paul Jewell. Commissioner Jewell is Chairman of the County’s LTAC. “It is designed to enable strategic investments across the county in order to further support tourism and to let the best projects rise to the top. We want to know what ideas are out there that can continue to build this industry, and we want to help make them a reality.” The County currently has around $500,000 in lodging tax funds set aside to begin this new program. Kittitas County imposes a lodging tax assessed on the sale or charges made for furnishings of lodging according to RCW 67.28.180 and RCW 67.28.181. The funds collected are then allocated by the County to support tourism. According to the state statute, funds awarded under this process may be used in a variety of ways to support tourism, including supporting the capital expenditures of tourism-related facilities owned or operated by a municipality. All applications are due to the County no later than 5:00 PM, Friday, April 14, 2017. Applications are available online at www.co.kittitas.wa.us or may be picked up in person at the Kittitas County Courthouse, Commissioner's Office, 205 W. 5th Ave. Suite 108, Ellensburg, WA.
Kittitas County, from the Cascades to the Columbia, and online at http://www.co.kittitas.wa.us
###
Contact: Paul Jewell 509-962-7508Commissioner, District #1paul.jewell@co.kittitas.wa.us