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The La Conner Town Council almost doubled its hotel-motel allocation in the 2024 budget, voting to spend $342,111 at its Sept. 26 meeting. Almost 64%, $217,461 are internal expenditures, mostly for Maple Hall improvements, $132,866, up from $6,000 for security cameras for 2023. The Morris and First street restrooms and landscaping will get $63,995, a $10,139 increase. And the Town advertising budget jumped to $20,600 from $600.

Grants to community organizations total $124,650. The La Conner Chamber of Commerce received $90,000 to fund its operations, a $7,000 increase and nine community organizations will have $34,650 to spend, up $4,845 and 16.3% from last year.

The organizations' grants range from $1,000 to the Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon and $1,000 to Skagit Artists Together, to $8,250 to the Museum of Northwest Art and $8,000 to La Conner Arts Foundation, which manages Art's Alive.

Hotel/Motel tax allocations were $173,26 this year, drawn from the 2022 fund balance of $286,832. The Town has reported revenue through September of $138,064. Another $50,00-$60,000 may be collected this year if tourism continues the trend of the last two years.

The draft 2024 budget lists $140,000 for hotel/motel revenues.

The decision was unanimous and followed the council finance committee's recommendation after $10,866 was added for maintenance for the Maple Hall elevator.