COLORADO SPRINGS — City Council approved which local events will receive money from the Lodgers and Automobile Rental Tax or "LART" next year.
Several traditions and community events lost all funding from 2024. That includes the Festival of Lights Parade and the Western Street Breakfast.
The LART 2025 budget passed on a 5 to 2 vote Tuesday.
Nancy Henjum is a Colorado Springs Council LART committee liaison.
Henjum said the committee looks at many factors, including the economic impact, for funding decisions.
"With how many there are and how many sought funding and the limiting amount of funding, it was not possible for every event to be funded," said Henjum.
"[The parade and breakfast] brings in a lot of money so why did these events not get any," asked News5's Lindsey Jensen.
"Again, I go back to the committee, it's a complicated set of things that they were calculating, so I support their process," said Henjum.
The Pikes Peak Pride Festival will receive more funding than last year, which got a lot of pushback during public comment.
City Council plans to revisit and potentially ask voters to raise the tax for 2026. Right now, LART is 3%.
2% from hotels and 1% from rental cars.
The annual Fiestas Patrias in Colorado Springs received more than a 50% LART cut from last year.
"For me, that just totally breaks my heart," said Fiestas Patrias co-founder, Moni Hernandez. "However, that's not going to stop us from bringing a cultural event to Colorado Springs."
The founders of Fiestas Patrias, Hernandez and Cory Arcarese, said
more than 53,000 people came out to the 2024 two-day event, which brought in $8.1 million into the city.
Now, they worry that the 2025 event won't be as big.
"We're going to have to bring probably more of a B-class, C-class type of artist that's not going to have the same draw as the artists we've had in the past," said Hernandez.
"We have things for the family to do, for kids to do, a lot of things will need to be cut back because we won't be able to offer them," said Arcarese.
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