The Jefferson City Council recently approved two applications for hotel/motel grants.

City Administrator Mike Palmer says one grant was for $900 to Jefferson Matters: Main Street to help pay for the annual fee for them to continue to provide the online Jefferson, Iowa application. It is accessible from any electronic device and can be downloaded for free. The application shows where anything is located in Jefferson, including community events. Palmer explains what the second grant went to.

“The other one is for billboard expenses for the Bell Tower (Community) Foundation. They’ve rented another building just outside of town on Highway 141 for one-half a year. The approval for that was a little over $4,300.”

The City Council established guidelines for distributing hotel/motel tax funds in 2016. It is a three-tier system where the first tier of $30,000 is given to Greene County Chamber and Tourism, the second tier of $20,000 is for any debt and operational expenses to the Chamber for the Welcome Center and the third tier is for any funds left over to be given away in grants to non-profit organizations that promote tourism for Jefferson. Palmer says there still are funds available.

“If people have an application we’re taking them. We’ll look at each one individually again next year, (2019 fiscal year) then we’ll have our main round going through. But this seems to work pretty well, things come up and people are welcomed to apply.”

Applications are available at City Hall.