Tourism is a priority in Carbon County.

That's why county officials created the tourism grant fund after they implemented the 3 percent hotel tax in February 2007.During the county commissioners' meeting on Thursday, the board approved the release of funds under a memorandum of understanding between Carbon County and the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau that supports the grant initiatives in Carbon County.The memorandum authorizes the release of $22,230 from the Hotel Room Excise Tax fund for the county's tourism grant.A total of 17 nonprofit organization projects will benefit from the ongoing grant during this round of funding. The county distributes the grant multiple times a year.This grant round's recipients are:• Bach and Handel Chorale: $225 for online marketing.• Carbon County Lion/Lioness Fair Association: $3,625 for the Carbon County Fair advertising and marketing.• Concourse Club of Palmerton: $275 for an art show.• Jim Thorpe Tourism Agency: $5,730 for marketing, promotion and advertising.• Lansford Alive: $100 for Christmas in the Park/Little Miss Snowflake contest.• Mauch Chunk Museum and Cultural Center: $250 for rack cards for advertising.• Mauch Chunk Rod and Gun Club: $250 for Lehigh River trout stocking.• Old Jail and Heritage Center: $1,150 for rack cards for advertising.• Palmerton Festival Corporation: $1,600 for the 2016 Palmerton Community Festival.• Palmerton Veterans Memorial: $500 for the moving wall.• Panther Creek Valley Foundation: $2,500 for the 2016 Coal Miners Heritage Festival.• St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Summit Hill: $900 for the 2016 parish festival.• Summit Hill Historical Society: $450 for the 2016 Hootenanny.• Ukrainian Homestead of CEC, ODWU: $1,100 for the Ukrainian Festival.• Weatherly Hill Climb Association: $2,240 for the 2016 Weatherly Hill Climb.• Weissport Recreation Commission: $750 for the Redneck Festival.To date, Carbon County has distributed approximately $823,000 to nonprofit organizations to help promote tourism.The county receives a total of 50 percent of the hotel tax. Of the 50 percent, the county receives 20 percent, which it uses for improvements to Mauch Chunk Lake Park; 28 percent is put into the grant fund; and 2 percent goes toward administration fees.The remaining 50 percent goes to the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau.The Carbon County Hotel Excise Tax, which includes a 3 percent tax on room rentals in hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfasts, and resorts in the county, was signed by the commissioners in 2007.The tax had been under negotiation since 2004, when commissioners voted down Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau's original proposal of a 20 percent revenue return on the money the tax would generate. They eventually negotiated a 50 percent revenue return to the county.For more information on the grant, visit carboncountypa.org/pages/HotelTaxGrant.