Money for tourism marketing, downtown ambassadors cut from Louisville's stimulus spending plan
Metro council committee makes changes to federal spending budget, cutting money from tourism to address homelessness and violence.
Metro council committee makes changes to federal spending budget, cutting money from tourism to address homelessness and violence.
Metro council committee makes changes to federal spending budget, cutting money from tourism to address homelessness and violence.
Money to market Louisville as a tourism and convention destination was cut from a federal stimulus spending plan.
The $5.4 million was proposed for Louisville Tourism to help its marketing efforts as part of Mayor Greg Fischer's proposal for $38 million of Louisville's $388 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The Metro Council budget committee also cut $500,000 for downtown events and reduced money for downtown ambassadors from $3.4 million to $1 million, with $150,000 dedicated to ambassadors working at Waterfront Park.
Many committee members expressed reservations about spending millions on marketing while the city faces an epidemic of homelessness and violence, while others said they wanted more time to decide how to spend federal stimulus money.
Karen Williams, president and CEO of Louisville Tourism, said she understands both concerns, but hopes the Metro Council will restore funding as they debate additional stimulus spending in the coming months.
"We have 60,000 jobs in the tourism industry and unfortunately, during this time when our budgets went so slim, 75 percent of these people were furloughed," she said. "We need heads in beds to get these people back to work."