Taxes from the state's three major horse tracks once fed the fund, but last year lawmakers reduced the tax in the hope of keeping the race tracks afloat. Lawmakers substituted a new lottery game for the lost tax proceeds. But Gov. Gary Locke vetoed the lottery game, instructing legislators to find new funding when they returned to Olympia this year. The fair fund contribution represents about 5 percent of the Benton-Franklin fair budget, said fair board President Harvey Underwood. But its loss would cut into a profit margin that helps cushion fair operations and goes to support the fairgrounds the rest of the year.
Lawmakers appear ready to help, but they have different ideas about how to replenish the fund.
The money would help finance fairs for the next three years until the tax cut for horse tracks expires, she said. Loveland has her budget on a fast track to pass early this legislative session, but she is concerned that two House proposals filed this week could bog down the fair dollars. The money is sent in February to the fairs, which use it primarily to pay exhibitors. The House measures, HB 1090 and 1144, offer different solutions. The second would impose a new hotel-motel tax as a permanent funding source.