Spelled out as clear as day in the bid the CRVA submitted to the DNC back in May. If the host committee cannot raise the $42m. required to put on the shindig, local hospitality taxes would fill the gap:

In the event the funds raised fall short of the Host Committee’s contractual commitment, the City of Charlotte has the ability to make up the difference using funds from the City’s Convention Center Fund, which is funded by local hospitality taxes. The process for appropriating these funds would require, first, a request by the Board of the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority (CRVA), then approval by the Charlotte City Council. The Master Contract will commit the the City to appropriate these funds if needed to make up any budget shortfall, up to a specified amount agreed with the DNCC.

In other words, the Charlotte city council has already voted to spend the food/beverage and ho-mo taxes locals pay each and every week out of their pockets on the big DNC party — should Jim Rogers and crew come up short.

Also, the host committee — and hence the city — has agreed to use union labor “whenever available” for convention-related work. This may guarantee that unionized out-of-town, out-of-state entities get the work that is supposed to boost the local economy.

We now return you to your non-stop DNC 2012 hype machine.

Update: The city now says that the final language of the deal does not commit local hospitality taxes to the convention. Details:

In the host committee’s original bid, any convention costs that exceeded the private fundraising would have been covered by the city’s reserve from its hospitality taxes on hotel rooms and prepared food and drinks.

Now, if the host committee runs out of money, it will be responsible for its debts.

Walton said the city decided against committing the tourism tax reserves because of the weak economy. Those reserves are used to pay off debt on the convention center, as well as operating losses on buildings such as Bojangles’ Coliseum.

“We weren’t comfortable there would be reserves there,” Walton said. “We didn’t agree to that.”

Hmmm. A big part of the city’s own original bid gets reversed at the 11th hour? So now the DNC has no guarantee that the host committee comes up with $42m.? I frankly do not believe that.

We already know that Bank of America stepped up with millions in DNC subsidy earlier this year. Is there a handshake deal to provide the host committee with a line of credit should cash run short? Otherwise, how could the host committee incur debts?

On to the actual contract…