Events must be open to the public. The City encourages persons and organizations to hold annual events.
The City of Balch Springs encourages all event organizers to patronize Balch Springs businesses for food, supplies, materials, printing, etc., as these same businesses many times are asked to financially support local events. The City of Balch Springs encourages overnight guests to stay in local hotels/motels.
No funds are to be used for events that have already been completed or fully funded.
Funding available for "advertising costs" shall mean:
All promotional material must prominently display the official City of Balch Springs logo.
All promotion/advertising must reach target audiences at least 20 miles outside the City of Balch Springs.
The costs for newspaper, magazine, television, radio, billboard and Internet ads; and
the costs of brochures and fliers which are used to advertise events prior to the event and not handed out at the event; and postage and printing for mail-outs. Funds are only authorized to be used on the specific, requested advertising expense for which they are authorized and cannot be applied to another, different advertising expense. For example, if $500.00 is authorized for newspaper ads and $1500.00 is authorized for billboard advertising, no part of the $500.00 may be applied to billboard advertising and no part of the $1,500.00 may be applied to the newspaper ad(s).
In order to promote City Events that directly encourage tourism and the hotel and convention industry, the City shall make available a portion of the HOT revenue to the Tourism Advisory Committee for City of Balch Springs sponsored events and city sporting events. Events that are not eligible are:
Pyro Technic shows (fireworks)
Community based events that do not promote tourism
(a) In each fiscal year budget, the City Council may allocate specific sums of HOT funds for projects/activities/programs that qualify for funding under Sections 4 through 7. Such sums will be set aside for the project, activity or program delineated in the budget. Funds allocated in a given fiscal year but not expended may be carried over to the succeeding fiscal year upon council approval through the budget process. The percentages for use of HOT funds contained in Section 4 shall be followed to the extent feasible, but the Council may elect to budget amounts in different percentages when it believes that doing so will more fully promote tourism and the purposes for which HOT Funds may be used.