At policy and planning during this week’s Pella City Council meeting, the organization responsible for promoting tourism to Pella will give a presentation to the Pella City Council before they consider renewing a contract for use of the community’s hotel-motel tax.

The City of Pella’s current contract with the Pella Convention and Visitors Bureau, or Visit Pella, expires on March 31st. In 2019, the council approved a three-year agreement with the CVB, which allocated 57% of the city’s collection of hotel/motel taxes received from the Iowa Department of Revenue. The purpose of the agreement was to fund operations, which mainly is for promotion of the community outside of the city limits and developing visitor and convention business to the City of Pella.

On August 3rd, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic–which significantly impacted hotel/motel tax collections and CVB allocations, the council approved a one-time payment of $40,000.

Visit Pella is requesting the following:
• New three-year agreement beginning April 1, 2022 through March 31, 2025
• Increase of 3% in hotel/motel tax funding, from 57% to 60%, which staff estimates to be $10,500 on an annual basis

Tuesday’s Pella City Council meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the Pella Public Safety Complex on Liberty Street, and the meeting will also be online.