Kansas City, Mo. ? The struggling 18th and Vine district, home to the American Jazz Museum, would get a boost from the city’s hotel-motel tax under a proposal by two city council members.

The measure, introduced Thursday by Councilman Troy Nash and Councilwoman Mary Williams Neal, would allocate a minimum of $675 million in tourism money each year to the museum complex.

The 18th and Vine area is in their city council district.

“We have to look for creative ways to continue to fund our big-ticket items,” Nash said.

The museum complex annually seeks money from the city’s general fund. As the city’s budget shortfall has worsened, however, its funding for 18th and Vine has fallen from $824,000 in 2000-2001 to $674,000 this fiscal year.

The new ordinance would assure that the museum complex – which includes the Jazz Museum, the Gem Theater and the Blue Room – receives 47 percent, or $675,000, whichever is greater, of the Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund.

That fund, totaling about $1.5 million annually, is spent on tourism events.

City Manager Bob Collins said the ordinance was designed to ensure that the museum complex had a reliable source of money separate from the general fund, which also must pay for other basic services.

If approved, the $675,000 in tourism funding would represent about 35 percent of the museum complex’s annual $2 million operating budget, said Nash, who is also chairman of the museum board’s finance and audit committee. About 30 percent comes from paid admissions and the rest from grants and donations.

Collins conceded that the proposal, if passed, may reduce the amount of money available for other tourism events throughout the city. But he said the 18th and Vine district was a tourist attraction, so neighborhood tourism dollars were an appropriate source of funds.

Former Mayor Emanuel Cleaver, the museum’s board chairman, said neighborhood tourist development dollars should increase annually, so there would be more money for 18th and Vine and other events.

“Now (museum officials) will have money so they can plan ahead of time,” Cleaver said. “We don’t know the exact amount, but unless the bottom falls out of the economy, the amount should rise each year.”

The council’s Finance and Audit Committee is scheduled to discuss the proposal Wednesday.