(A) A municipality or county receiving more than fifty thousand dollars in revenue from the accommodations tax in county areas collecting more than fifty thousand dollars shall appoint an advisory committee to make recommendations on the expenditure of revenue generated from the accommodations tax. The advisory committee consists of seven members with a majority being selected from the hospitality industry of the municipality or county receiving the revenue. At least two of the hospitality industry members must be from the lodging industry where applicable. One member shall represent the cultural organizations of the municipality or county receiving the revenue. For county advisory committees, members shall represent the geographic area where the majority of the revenue is derived. However, if a county which receives more in distributions of accommodations taxes than it collects in accommodations taxes, the membership of its advisory committee must be representative of all areas of the county with a majority of the membership coming from no one area.
(B) A municipality or county and its advisory committee shall adopt guidelines to fit the needs and time schedules of the area. The guidelines must include the requirements for applications for funds from the special fund used for tourism-related expenditures. A recipient's application must be reviewed by an advisory committee before it receives funds from a county or municipality.
(C) Advisory committees shall submit written recommendations to a municipality or county at least once annually. The recommendations must be considered by the municipality or county in conjunction with the requirements of this chapter.
(D) Municipalities and counties annually shall submit to the South Carolina Accommodations Tax Oversight Committee:
(1) end-of-the-year report detailing advisory committee accommodations tax recommendations;
(2) municipality's or county's action following the recommendations;
(3) list of how funds from the accommodations tax are spent, except for the first twenty-five thousand dollars and five percent of the balance in Section 6-4-10(2) allocated to the general fund. The list is due before October first and must include funds received and dispersed during the previous fiscal year;
(4) list of advisory committee members noting the chairman, business address if applicable, and representation of the hospitality industry including the lodging industry and cultural interests.
(E) The regional tourism agencies in Section 6-4-20 annually shall submit reports on their budgets and annual expenditure of accommodations tax funds pursuant to this chapter to the Accommodations Tax Oversight Committee.
HISTORY: 1991 Act No. 147, Section 1; 2002 Act No. 312, Section 3.