The City of London will support The Grand Theatre's planned renovation, but will look at creating a new process to decide how future Hotel Tax revenues are allocated.
The Corporate Services Committee heard a request Tuesday from The Grand for $2 million from Hotel Tax revenues to help fund an $8-million renovation.
In the end, the committee recommended providing the requested $2-million Letter of Committment by the required March 2019 deadline.
But the committee agreed it wouldn't decide until 2020 how the cost will be divided between the Economic Development Reserve Fund and Hotel Tax revenue.
In part, that's because this isn't the first request for funds from revenue generated by the new Hotel Tax since it was launched in October, so there were concerns about committing future revenues.
There have already been requests from the Children's Museum, London Convention Centre and the Junos host committee for funds.
To prevent overspending, the committee has recommended putting all upcoming funding requests from city hall's share of the Hotel Tax on hold until a process for future allocations is developed.
The Grand needs the Letter of Commitment to apply for federal funding of $4 million from the Canada Cultural Spaces fund for their planned renovation, which includes roof repairs and an updated stage and lobby areas.
