Motel room tax receipts fell during the summer, however the executive director of the Albany Visitors Association believes an upswing in collections is just around the corner.

"I understand from other folks in the tourism industry, there are signs the economy has actually bottomed out and is turning around," said Jimmie Lucht of the AVA. "We're looking forward to having things pick up after the first of the year."

In June, July and August, receipts were down about $53,000 compared to the same period last year, according to the city's latest quarterly report.

For June, they dropped from $77, 409 to $58,856, a 24 percent decrease; for July they went from $76,614 to $64,479, a loss of 16 percent; and for August they went from $81,479 to $59,170, a 27 percent loss.

For the combined three months, the loss was about 23 percent.

Room tax collections help fund the AVA, the Albany Downtown Association and the Albany-Millersburg Economic Development Corp. This fiscal year, the ADA is getting $39,999, the AVA, $337,300, and AMEDEC, $45,000.

Collections also are used to fund debt service on a $2.3 million bond issued in 1995 to construct the Linn County Fair & Expo Center. This is the last year the city must pay on the bond, said John Stahl, the city's assistant finance director.

It will be up to the city council to decide where the additional room tax receipts go -if there are any- once the debt is paid off, he said.

City Manager Wes Hare said "if that money is dramatically below what we expect, we'll probably have a discussion with the council and the agencies about what to do. It then becomes a policy question: Should property taxes be used to backfill any transient room tax losses if other sources of city revenue are down as well."

A law states that 70 percent of room taxes collected should go toward "tourism-related expenses," Hare said. "I'm not sure that there has been a test of what that constitutes. In Lincoln City, some of those funds pay for police officers, which the city justifies by saying tourism creates law enforcement issues."

Councilor Jeff Christman has not given much thought to where the money saved by the bond payoff should go. "I'm really more focused on getting a new police station and a replacement for the fire station downtown," he said.

Councilor Bill Coburn Jr. wants the AVA to have more money to use in attracting more tourists to Albany, while Mayor Sharon Konopa said the city cannot commit to anything until the end of this fiscal year.