Hundreds of thousands of Hamilton County dollars generated by tourism revenue will funnel into three projects, per a Hamilton County Commission vote Wednesday.
The package of projects, amounting to $750,000, was introduced by County Mayor Weston Wamp and approved unanimously by the commissioners.
The money comes from extra taxes levied on hotels and motels, earmarked to flow back into proposals promoting tourism and economic growth. The money the commission voted on will go toward projects involving downtown retail, the airport and a splash pad plan in Lookout Valley.
There’s about $750,000 left in the earmarked funds — nicknamed the “hotel-motel budget” — for fiscal year 2026, which ends in June, according to county Chief Financial Officer Lee Brouner.
During a previous commission meeting reviewing the project package, Commissioner David Sharpe, D-Red Bank, asked Wamp whether the county should be saving up that particular budget for future debt service payments on the new Lookouts stadium project. Sharpe said he remembered he and other county officials discussing that as an avenue of keeping the county on track for that project, and he was wondering whether the money put toward the projects approved Wednesday should be conserved.
Hamilton County Commission hopes to make splash with $750K in tourism projects
“We’re not concerned about squirreling money away for the next two years?” Sharpe asked at the time.
“No, I think we are concerned about that,” Wamp replied. “But as we stated here, with this resolution approved, there’s still $750,000, which would be more than adequate for this fiscal year.”
Wamp during the meeting estimated the debt service payment for the 2026 fiscal year to be about $400,000. As budget season rolls around, the county will be able to get a better idea of what needs to be saved for heftier debt service payments in 2027 and 2028, he said.
Here’s how the money will be divided among the three projects.
$250K TO RIVER CITY
River City Company, a nonprofit that works on projects in downtown Chattanooga, will receive $250,000 for “activities supporting downtown retail.”
Though the nonprofit announced a contract with national consultant Retail Strategies earlier this week to recruit businesses downtown, the funds from the county won’t go toward that specific partnership, CEO Emily Mack said in a statement.
“This funding is separate from our partnership with Retail Strategies,” Mack said. “Together, these investments will attract new businesses to our community, bringing more private investment, jobs, animation and tax revenue to our city and county.”
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The money matches the $250,000 Chattanooga officials budgeted to give to River City for the same purpose, Mack said. She did not respond to questions asking her to elaborate on what the money from the county and the city would specifically be used for.
The vacancy rate for downtown retail and commercial space was 2.7% in 2025, according to a study the nonprofit released. The consultant contract will produce analyses about foot traffic and demographics block by block. The nonprofit also has a program, Scenic Storefronts, offering matching grants with the city to small businesses looking to enhance curb appeal.
$150K TO THE AIRPORT
The Chattanooga Airport, through a foundation run by the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, will get $150,000 as part of a match for a federal grant aimed at landing direct flights to Houston.
The grant, offered through the U.S. Department of Transportation, was awarded in 2022. Originally, airport officials were looking at soliciting a direct flight to Denver, but Houston was chosen because the city has direct flights to Puebla, Mexico, where Volkswagen has its Mexican headquarters, according to Kristen Behm, the airport’s vice president of air service development.
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All told, the airport will get over $1 million to secure the direct flight — which will likely be flown by United Airlines. Here’s how the required contributions break down:
— $750,000 from the federal government
— $150,000 from the county government
— $150,000 from the city government
Funds like those are meant to subsidize an airline’s efforts to get started at the airport, Charles Wood, Chamber of Commerce CEO, said via phone. The Chattanooga City Council will vote on whether to provide the city’s portion on Tuesday.
$350K FOR A SPLASH PAD
The largest appropriation will go toward building a public splash pad at John A. Patten Community Center in Lookout Valley. The commission also approved a contract Wednesday with Playcore Wisconsin to build it.
Wamp said the county has been looking into building several splash pads. Having grown up in Lookout Valley, he said the area is well-suited for the project, since it generates far more in hotel-motel tax revenue than the $350,000 necessary for construction — about $1.7 million annually, Wamp estimated.
“These are low maintenance but high fun, particularly for families,” Wamp said. “Summers here can be about as miserable as summers anywhere.”
Sharpe had some worries about the project meeting the requirements for spending tourism tax funds, he said. But he eventually decided to support the project after county staffers said the county’s previous expenditures of the funds on similar projects, like the Harrison ball fields, had been approved by the state.
“People have gotten pretty creative with how they use these funds,” Sharpe said. “I want to make sure we’re on the safe side of that creativity.”
Contact city and county reporter Siena Duncan at sduncan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.