§ 164 — Applications for and approval of matching funds to tourist promotion agencies

§ 164. Applications for and approval of matching funds to tourist\npromotion agencies. (a) The commissioner is hereby authorized to match\nfunds expended by recognized tourist promotion agencies and to set\nreasonable deadlines for the submission of applications for each fiscal\nyear covered by appropriations in order to assist such agencies in the\nfinancing of their recognized advertising programs. Before any such\nfunds may be expended, the tourist promotion agency shall have made\napplication to the department for such funds, and shall have therein set\nforth the schedule, budget, scope, and theme of the proposed advertising\nprogram to be undertaken for the purpose of encouraging and stimulating\ntourist travel, resort, vacation, culture and convention activities in\nthe county or counties within its area. Said application shall further\nstate, under oath or affirmation, with evidence thereof satisfactory to\nthe department, the amount of funds held by, or committed or subscribed\nto, the tourist promotion agency for the purposes herein described and\nthe amount of matching funds for which application is made, and provided\nthat all advertising purchased with funds appropriated under this act\nshall follow central conceptual themes used by the department in its\nadvertising for state tourism promotion including using any logotype or\nsimilar advertising construct in use by the department.\n (b) In reviewing such applications, the commissioner may select from\namong competing or overlapping applications the application or\napplications that the commissioner considers to be of greater benefit to\na given area and the welfare of the people of the state. Further, the\ncommissioner shall select from among filed applications those\napplications which the commissioner considers to be most in accord with\nthe guidelines established for the fiscal year in which the funds are to\nbe expended. If the commissioner determines that an application does not\nmeet the guidelines, the tourist promotion agency submitting such shall\nbe notified of its rejection and the reasons therefor by certified mail.\nA tourist promotion agency whose application has been rejected may\nresubmit the application to meet the guidelines determined by the\ncommissioner. The resubmitted application shall be postmarked within two\nweeks of the date of receipt of notice of failure of its initial\napplication. After review of a submitted or resubmitted application, if\nsatisfied that the program of the tourist promotion agency appears to be\nin accord with the purposes of this act, the commissioner shall\nauthorize in writing the payment of matching funds appropriated pursuant\nto this act to such tourist promotion agency equal to funds allocated by\nsuch agency to the program described in its application, provided,\nhowever, that such matching grant shall not exceed an amount equal to\nfive per centum of the matching grant appropriation for each county\nrepresented by such agency for the purposes set forth in this act.\nProvided that sufficient funds are appropriated, no such grant shall be\nless than either twenty thousand dollars per county represented by such\ntourist promotion agency or the amount of funds held by, or committed or\nsubscribed to such tourist promotion agency for the purposes described\nin its application, whichever sum is less. No such minimum grant shall\nallow the awarding of matching funds for applications other than those\nmeeting the guidelines established by the department.\n (c) No application submitted by a tourist promotion agency shall be\napproved unless the funds of such agency allocated to the program\ndescribed in its application are both:\n (1) equal to or greater than eight thousand dollars for each county\nrepresented by such agency, and\n (2) equal to or less than five per centum of the total matching funds\nappropriation for each county represented by such tourist promotion\nagency.\n (d) No state funds granted to a tourist promotion agency pursuant to\nthis act may be used for travel, food, lodging, entertainment,\ntransportation or expenses unrelated to the approved advertising\nprogram. A regional advertising program as described in paragraph one of\nsubdivision (c) of section one hundred sixty-two of this article may\ninclude those personal service administrative expenses actually\nattributable to such program, provided, however, that such expenses\nshall not exceed twenty percent of the total budget of such regional\nadvertising program and provided further that such expenses shall be\napproved by no less than one-half of the counties within such region.\n (e) Applications required by this section shall be submitted only upon\nforms provided by the department. Such forms shall contain a statement\nof the guidelines which the commissioner shall use to establish\npriorities among applications. Such guidelines shall be established by\nthe commissioner on an annual basis and, once established, shall not be\nchanged until the following year.\n (f) The department shall set aside no more than thirty percent of the\ntotal local assistance appropriation for tourism matching funds to\ncreate regional advertising program bonuses payable to tourist promotion\nagencies. Such bonus shall be based on a formula to be developed by the\ndepartment, which shall take into account the number of counties\nparticipating in a regional advertising program with respect to the\nnumber of counties within the department tourism region in which that\ntourist promotion agency is located and the percentage of which qualify\nfor a match pursuant to this section to be expended by the tourist\npromotion agency for the purposes of the regional advertising program.\nBonuses paid for regional advertising shall be subject to the same\nrestrictions described in this article for matching funds, and shall\nfurther be dedicated to the sole purposes of the regional advertising\nprogram. The bonus paid to each tourist promotion agency shall not\nexceed twenty percent of the amount budgeted by such agency for each\nregional advertising program. Nothing in this article shall prohibit a\ntourist promotion agency from receiving regional bonus funding for\nparticipation in regional advertising programs as described in paragraph\ntwo of subdivision (c) of section one hundred sixty-two of this article\nin addition to funding for participation in a regional advertising\nprogram as described in paragraph one of subdivision (c) of section one\nhundred sixty-two of this article.\n (g) If the matching funds requested in the applications exceed the\nappropriation, the commissioner shall allocate available funds on a\nprorated basis. Such proration shall apply to originally approved as\nwell as resubmitted and subsequently approved applications.\n