Prause’s Meat Market Now Officially Under Contract to Become Theater, and Arts and Culture Fund Started
The La Grange City Council voted 4-1 Monday night to establish a La Grange Arts and Culture Fund.
The Council discussed the idea at length during their March 24 meeting. City Manager Jack Thompson proposed the fund as a way for the City to support public art initiatives. The money could be used to pay for art installations around town such as outdoor sculptures and murals.
The City will kickstart the fund with a $50,000 contribution from hotel occupancy tax revenue. The Greater Fayette Community Foundation will manage the fund. Thompson said he hopes the fund will attract private donors interested in supporting public art.
The Council held a separate vote Monday night over the $50,000 contribution. It, too, passed 4-1. In both cases, Councilwoman Violet Zbranek cast the dissenting vote. Council members Chris Jernigan, Ken Taylor and Kim Newton were absent from the meeting.
Later in the meeting, the Council took up another vote on hotel tax spending, this time for $237,000 to be paid to the La Grange Economic Development Corporation (EDC) over five years. The money will reimburse the EDC for improvements to the old Prause’s Meat Market building at 253 W. Travis St. on the Square.
The EDC has the property under contract for a purchase price of $335,000. Last Tuesday, the EDC approved a deal with Fayette County Community Theatre to establish a permanent home for the theater group inside the Prause’s building. The $237,500 in City hotel tax funds would go toward remodeling the building into a performance space.
“The structure of the deal is the EDC would purchase the building and provide some tenant improvement money to go toward basic plumbing, electric, and fire suppression system,” said Thompson. “The theater would be responsible for the remainder finish-out – the stage, walls – everything that makes it a theater. As part of that deal, EDC requested from the tourism committee to see if they’d split the tenant improvements.”
According to the deal, the City will pay the EDC $50,000 annually for the first four years and then $23,500 in the fifth year.
Thompson said the expenditure would qualify for hotel tax funding since it involves historic preservation of the building, one of the nine categories of hotel tax spending authorized by state law.
When the item came up for a vote, it passed 4-1 as well with Zbranek casting the dissenting vote.
“I’m not against the theater project,” Zbranek said. “I just don’t think it should be paid out of hotel tax funds.”
Zbranek said she felt the same way about the Arts and Culture Fund.
In addition to the nine specific categories of spending, State law generally requires hotel tax expenses to support the local tourism industry. A rule of thumb typically used to justify hotel tax funding states that every expenditure must put “heads in beds.” In other words, any expenditure of hotel tax revenue must attract overnight visitors.
The City of La Grange has traditionally used hotel occupancy tax revenue to support local groups and events that bring visitors to La Grange. Organizations can apply for those funds, and the City’s Tourism Grant Committee reviews them and recommends awards to the City Council. Earlier in Monday night’s meeting, the County approved ten such requests:
• $10,000 to the Fayette County Fair Association for promotion,
• $2,650 to Juneteenth on the Square for musical entertainment, • $5,000 to the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center for marketing its May Fest event on May 17-18,
• $6,400 to Friends of Kreische Brewery and Monument Hill for advertising the Bluff Schetzenfest on May 17,
• $8,200 to the Texas Quilt Museum for marketing museum events and children’s programs,
• $10,000 to the Bugle Boy Foundation for promoting the approximately 90 shows they host each year,
• $10,000 to the Fayette Sheriff’s Posse for advertising the rodeo held on April 4-5,
• $2,940 to Faison Preservation Society for marketing two interpretive events on May 17 and Aug. 30,
• $1,600 to the Texas Heroes Museum for advertising, and
• $4,000 to the Colorado Valley Quilt Guild for advertising the 28th Annual Best Little Quilt Show in Texas.
Zbranek said she supports those organizations using hotel tax money rather than the new Arts and Culture Fund or the theater project.
“We have to provide for them,” Zbranek said. “They need money.”
“We discussed that, and there will be sufficient funds for all of their requests,” said Council member Kathy Weishuhn, who chairs the City’s tourism grant committee. “We have a very healthy balance.”
Thompson said the fund currently has $479,182. He expected the fund to grow since the City only recently started collecting hotel tax revenue from short-term rentals such as AirBNB homes.