More than $150K allocated for tourism-related projects

Celebrate Simpsonville, goldfish show to receive unused 2020 funds

Simpsonville, S.C. — After advancing earlier this month more than $150,000 in tax grants to local organizations, Simpsonville City Council approved the funds on Tuesday for multiple tourism-related projects in 2021 inside Simpsonville city limits.

City Council voted 6-0 at its business meeting to accept a proposed package of $154,500 in accommodations tax grants to be distributed to seven applicants. Simpsonville Community Relations Specialist Justin Campbell said the vote by Council indicates a focus on events and projects that bring Simpsonville residents together and attract visitors to the City.

"Council has prioritized public events that provide live entertainment and projects that encourage tourism to the City of Simpsonville," Campbell said. "Making Simpsonville a destination town is a goal of Council and City leadership, and this grant package furthers that goal."

The package approved by Council is based on recommendations by the Local Accommodations Tax Committee, which consists of Simpsonville business owners with their pulse on the local economy. The Committee members, whom Council appoints, reviewed in December applications for tax grants derived from a state-mandated tax on lodging facilities before recommending to Council how much money to provide each applicant.

City Administrator Dianna Gracely said the proposal by staff based on those recommendations includes carrying over respectively $10,000 and $35,000 for the S.C. Koi & Goldfish Show and Independence Day event Celebrate Simpsonville, events for which funding went unused in 2020 because of cancellations due to the pandemic. 

The annual Independence Day event Celebrate Simpsonville was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic. With Celebrate Simpsonville scheduled to take place in 2021, the event will receive a $35,000 grant that matches the unused funds in 2020 as part of a $150,000 package of tax grants approved by Simpsonville City Council for tourism-related projects | City of Simpsonville

"Most of the other funding allocations that are proposed and recommended on this spreadsheet are organizations that the City has funded in past years, and the recommendations from staff and the A-TAX Committee are based on prior years' funding plus funds that were actually expended by the organization on the event," Gracely said. "We believe that although there were a few cuts made, that it's very fair and will allow all of the organizations and events to continue uninterrupted."

A list of organizations, their events or projects and funds requested and granted can be found under Supporting Documents.

Council voted 7-0 to advance the tax grants as presented at the Committee of the Whole meeting in January. Councilwoman Stephanie Kelley of Ward 2 was unable to attend the meeting on Tuesday and therefore could not vote.