Suwanee changes funding agreement with art association

Merchandise like these t-shirts is sold in the Suwanee Welcome Center operated by the North Gwinnett Arts Association in conjunction with the city. Suwanee and the NGAA recently updated how proceeds from sales will be shared. Courtesy City of Suwanee

Merchandise like these t-shirts is sold in the Suwanee Welcome Center operated by the North Gwinnett Arts Association in conjunction with the city. Suwanee and the NGAA recently updated how proceeds from sales will be shared. Courtesy City of Suwanee

The Suwanee City Council voted recently to approve changes to the North Gwinnett Arts Association agreement. The two-year-old organization operates a joint Arts Center/Welcome Center on the city’s behalf. The city has been pleased with the relationship and services provided by the NGAA, and has agreed to renew and modify the current agreement to better reflect their true costs and value to the city.

The approved agreement will increase payment from the city to the NGAA from $48,000 to $60,000 a year. The city uses hotel/motel funds to fund the agreement. The agreement is automatically renewed on an annual basis unless cancelled by either party. To address automatic rental space increases, payment to the NGAA will now automatically increase by 3 percent each year.

The agreement also simplifies how proceeds from the Suwanee Arts Center are handled. The city and NGAA agree to split proceeds of any city-provided merchandise as follows: on a pre-tax basis, 70 percent of the proceeds are returned to Suwanee and 30 percent is kept by the NGAA. The city is authorized to establish the minimum price for each piece of city-provided merchandise.