County OKs $42,000 for chamber and $15,000 for historical society

By Joe Naiman

Passage of the County of San Diego’s 2012-13 budget included the allocation of transient occupancy tax (TOT) money, with Ramona Chamber of Commerce and Ramona Pioneer Historical Society receiving a combined $57,000 from the Community Enhancement program.

Each county supervisor has a $500,000 Community Enhancement budget and recommended how much of his or her budget will go to each group requesting funds. The recommendations were then ratified by the five county supervisors.

Although the revenue comes only from TOT money collected from lodging facilities in the unincorporated portion of the county, organizations in incorporated cities are also eligible for funding.

A total of 285 groups requested funding totaling $8.4 million, including $86,150 from the two Ramona organizations. Most organizations received less than the amount they requested. Each county supervisor also has a $1 million discretionary Neighborhood Reinvestment Program budget, so some Community Enhancement requests are fulfilled by that source.

The $42,000 given to the Ramona chamber and the $15,000 allocated to the Ramona historical society match the amounts each received last year. The chamber had requested $65,500 and the historical society, which operates the Guy B. Woodward Museum at 645 Main St., sought $20,650.

The chamber’s grant will be used for the open artist studio tour, Ramona Country Fair, Merchants Safe Trick or Treat, Fall Festival, Horseshoe Tournament, Installation Dinner, Holiday Tree Lighting, and 4th of July community events. The historical society will spend its TOT revenue on operations director expenses and on operations and maintenance.