The City of Hogansville ended its hotel-motel tax contract with the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce at Monday night’s meeting.

Hogansville’s decision comes almost a month after the city of LaGrange voted in favor of creating a convention and visitors bureau, ending an agreement that had continued since 1991. 

“In discussions with the chamber, the two-remaining cities [West Point, Hogansville] and the county decided it would make some sense for us to mutually agree to retroactively cancel the contract as of June 30,” said Mayor Bill Stankiewicz. “If we allow this contract to go into the new calendar year, both the city and the chamber would have to have an additional audit at great expense.” 

The council did not decide who would oversee the hotel/motel tax in the future. 

“I think the council will have to be involved with making a decision in how we go forward with that tax money,” Stankiewicz said. “It is legal for us to collect the tax and segregate the money in a separate account, but we are not allowed to spend it.” 

According to City Manager David Milliron the city is expected to bring in $30,052 in revenue from the hotel-motel tax. 

“Which, we would have shifted 62.5 percent of that to the chamber but retroactive July 1 it will get moved to a separate account,” Milliron said. 

Also, during the meeting the council approved the business items:

• A resolution stating the governing body is in support of locally established building design standards for residential dwellings. This allows local governments to enact specific design standards on single and double family homes.
• Request for authorization of the renewal of the city’s membership to the Troup County Center for Strategic Planning, which is a $5,000 cost. 
• Approval of the Electric Cities of Georgia agreements for AT&T and Verizon small cell antennas. The passed ordinance will allow the council to have business-to-business relationships for wireless activity and be exempt from Georgia Senate Bill 66 legislation.

Leslie Purcell, a freshman at LaGrange High School, was also presented with her winning art work for the Hogansville Hummingbird Festival. Purcell’s winning art was framed and will hang in Hogansville City Hall next to the art work of previous festivals.