N.Y. Economic Development Law § 164: Applications for and approval of matching funds to tourist promotion agencies

§ 164. Applications for and approval of matching funds to tourist

promotion agencies. (a) The commissioner is hereby authorized to match

funds expended by recognized tourist promotion agencies and to set

reasonable deadlines for the submission of applications for each fiscal

year covered by appropriations in order to assist such agencies in the

financing of their recognized advertising programs. Before any such

funds may be expended, the tourist promotion agency shall have made

application to the department for such funds, and shall have therein set

forth the schedule, budget, scope, and theme of the proposed advertising

program to be undertaken for the purpose of encouraging and stimulating

tourist travel, resort, vacation, culture and convention activities in

the county or counties within its area. Said application shall further

state, under oath or affirmation, with evidence thereof satisfactory to

the department, the amount of funds held by, or committed or subscribed

to, the tourist promotion agency for the purposes herein described and

the amount of matching funds for which application is made, and provided

that all advertising purchased with funds appropriated under this act

shall follow central conceptual themes used by the department in its

advertising for state tourism promotion including using any logotype or

similar advertising construct in use by the department.

(b) In reviewing such applications, the commissioner may select from

among competing or overlapping applications the application or

applications that the commissioner considers to be of greater benefit to

a given area and the welfare of the people of the state. Further, the

commissioner shall select from among filed applications those

applications which the commissioner considers to be most in accord with

the guidelines established for the fiscal year in which the funds are to

be expended. If the commissioner determines that an application does not

meet the guidelines, the tourist promotion agency submitting such shall

be notified of its rejection and the reasons therefor by certified mail.

A tourist promotion agency whose application has been rejected may

resubmit the application to meet the guidelines determined by the

commissioner. The resubmitted application shall be postmarked within two

weeks of the date of receipt of notice of failure of its initial

application. After review of a submitted or resubmitted application, if

satisfied that the program of the tourist promotion agency appears to be

in accord with the purposes of this act, the commissioner shall

authorize in writing the payment of matching funds appropriated pursuant

to this act to such tourist promotion agency equal to funds allocated by

such agency to the program described in its application, provided,

however, that such matching grant shall not exceed an amount equal to

five per centum of the matching grant appropriation for each county

represented by such agency for the purposes set forth in this act.

Provided that sufficient funds are appropriated, no such grant shall be

less than either twenty thousand dollars per county represented by such

tourist promotion agency or the amount of funds held by, or committed or

subscribed to such tourist promotion agency for the purposes described

in its application, whichever sum is less. No such minimum grant shall

allow the awarding of matching funds for applications other than those

meeting the guidelines established by the department.

(c) No application submitted by a tourist promotion agency shall be

approved unless the funds of such agency allocated to the program

described in its application are both:

(1) equal to or greater than eight thousand dollars for each county

represented by such agency, and

(2) equal to or less than five per centum of the total matching funds

appropriation for each county represented by such tourist promotion

agency.

(d) No state funds granted to a tourist promotion agency pursuant to

this act may be used for travel, food, lodging, entertainment,

transportation or expenses unrelated to the approved advertising

program. A regional advertising program as described in paragraph one of

subdivision (c) of section one hundred sixty-two of this article may

include those personal service administrative expenses actually

attributable to such program, provided, however, that such expenses

shall not exceed twenty percent of the total budget of such regional

advertising program and provided further that such expenses shall be

approved by no less than one-half of the counties within such region.

(e) Applications required by this section shall be submitted only upon

forms provided by the department. Such forms shall contain a statement

of the guidelines which the commissioner shall use to establish

priorities among applications. Such guidelines shall be established by

the commissioner on an annual basis and, once established, shall not be

changed until the following year.

(f) The department shall set aside no more than thirty percent of the

total local assistance appropriation for tourism matching funds to

create regional advertising program bonuses payable to tourist promotion

agencies. Such bonus shall be based on a formula to be developed by the

department, which shall take into account the number of counties

participating in a regional advertising program with respect to the

number of counties within the department tourism region in which that

tourist promotion agency is located and the percentage of which qualify

for a match pursuant to this section to be expended by the tourist

promotion agency for the purposes of the regional advertising program.

Bonuses paid for regional advertising shall be subject to the same

restrictions described in this article for matching funds, and shall

further be dedicated to the sole purposes of the regional advertising

program. The bonus paid to each tourist promotion agency shall not

exceed twenty percent of the amount budgeted by such agency for each

regional advertising program. Nothing in this article shall prohibit a

tourist promotion agency from receiving regional bonus funding for

participation in regional advertising programs as described in paragraph

two of subdivision (c) of section one hundred sixty-two of this article

in addition to funding for participation in a regional advertising

program as described in paragraph one of subdivision (c) of section one

hundred sixty-two of this article.

(g) If the matching funds requested in the applications exceed the

appropriation, the commissioner shall allocate available funds on a

prorated basis. Such proration shall apply to originally approved as

well as resubmitted and subsequently approved applications.