The Gering City Council Monday night approved the first major grants from the city’s Hotel Occupation Tax fund.
The Scottsbluff-Gering Noon Lions Club received $9,900, one of two grants awarded in the first round for 2024.
City Administrator Pat Heath explained the club would use the money for expenses related to their 2025 annual Basketball tournament, which takes place in February that year. “The tournament brings upwards of 80 teams to the area of fourth through ninth graders from Nebraska and surrounding states. The tournament is held on President’s Day weekend, which is an off-season,” said Heath. “It does fill our hotels, and the tournament is Friday through Sunday. So they provide a substantial economic impact by boosting hotel stays, and at area restaurants.”
The WNCC Foundation’s 2024 Platte Valley Company’s Monument Marathon received $6,800, one of two grants awarded in the inaugural round, and explained race organizers would use the money for event t-shirts for participants and volunteers.
“This year will be the 13th year of the marathon event, Sept. 27th and 28th, 2024. Again, we’re kind of off-season for this event. They’re expecting 550 runners from over 38 states, and foreign countries are represented. 74 percent of the registrants are from outside the Panhandle, and the average is 36 percent stay in our hotels,” Heath said.
2024 marks the first year in which the city is doling out funds from the lodging occupation tax, which will be handed out twice a year in both major and minor funding request categories.
