Question of the Week: Should Galveston Park Board be allowed to keep hotel occupancy tax revenue in its own accounts?

Galveston County - The Daily News
October 9, 2022

City council members later this month might have to decide whether to heed their attorney’s advice and fundamentally change how hotel occupancy tax revenue is managed or seek to change state laws and city charter provisions they’ve apparently been violating for years.

At issue, among other things, is whether hotel occupancy tax revenue, which amounts to millions of dollars a year, can be kept in accounts controlled by the Galveston Park Board of Trustees, as has been the case, or must be kept in city-controlled accounts.

During a workshop session Thursday, City Attorney Don Glywasky told council members allowing the park board to keep the tax revenue in its own accounts violated both the city charter and state law.

Park board Chairman Marty Fluke in a statement issued late Thursday evening said the park board was not out of compliance in managing hotel tax revenue.

Fluke said that while the city had the right to review and approve the board’s annual budget and capital improvement plan, it was not required by law to do so.

The Question of the Week is: Should Galveston Park Board be allowed to keep hotel occupancy tax revenue in its own accounts?