WATERLOO - Convention and Visitors Bureau members hope a new "mini-grant" program will improve Waterloo's ability to bring in visitors.

City Council members voted 6-0 Monday to endorse the CVB board's recommendation on disbursing $250,000 in hotel-motel tax revenue.

The breakdown includes a combined $213,125 in grants to 41 specific cultural, sporting and other tourism-related events and programs. But the remaining $36,875 will be retained in a grant pool for tourism events that come up during the next fiscal year and need a little financial boost.

The proposed "mini-grants" are a departure from previous years when the full allocation of hotel-motel tax grants was awarded before the fiscal year began.

Aaron Buzza, executive director of the CVB, said the mini-grants will allow the bureau to attract events or conventions that may not be looking at Waterloo or even being planned when the grant applications are due.

"We believe it's an opportunity to be a little bit more nimble and flexible with some of the funds," Buzza said. "We've lost business to Cedar Rapids because Cedar Rapids cut a check directly to the organization for the same piece of business we were seeking."

The mini-grant recipients will still apply under the same guidelines for funding, which primarily focus on the number of visitors and hotel stays created.

"We're looking for projects that offer some return on the investment," Buzza said.

Under state law, the money generated annually by the 7 percent surtax on hotel and motel rooms in the city must be spent on tourism-related activities and attractions.

Half the annual tax receipts support the visitors bureau's tourism promotion. The grant program and the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center get 20 percent each, while the final 10 percent goes into a discretionary fund controlled by the City Council.

The tax generated more than $1.1 million in the last fiscal year.

"The hotel-motel tax receipts are up, fortunately, and we are able to do so much more than we could (several) years ago," said Mayor Tim Hurley.

Contact Tim Jamison at (319) 291-1577 or tim.jamison@wcfcourier.com.