Every time someone stays at Constance Wolfe’s Halcyon House bed and breakfast, a 5 percent guest tax appears on the bill.

That money, collected on every one of Lawrence’s 1,100 hotel and motel rooms, goes to City Hall. But the city plows most of that back into the Lawrence Convention & Visitors Bureau, which uses the cash to attract even more visitors.

“To me, I don’t know how better you could spend your money with that kind of a return on your investment,” Wolfe said.

Now, however, the investment could change. Starting in 2008, city leaders want to keep a larger portion of the tax – $150,000 – for a reserve fund to be used to beautify downtown, support local attractions and police events the bureau brings into town.

“We need to do more than purchase ads,” City Manager Dave Corliss said. “We need actual funding support for the events and attractions in our community.”

Corliss’ recommended budget actually increases funding for the bureau – to $820,000, from $789,250 this year. But Judy Billings, the bureau’s executive director, said that number is based on projected guest tax revenues. If less money comes in, her agency gets less. And she’s worried her share would be smaller still if there’s competition for the money.

“I don’t know yet how much we’ll have to cut it back,” she said, “but we’ll have to cut some.”

The guest tax collected nearly $736,000 in 2006, and is projected to bring in $750,000 in 2007 and $775,000 in 2008, according to the city’s Web site.

Billings said the old way of doing business worked well for Lawrence, bringing visitors to town who spent $46.3 million in 2006.

“The advertising effectiveness study told us for every dollar we spent on print advertising last year, $59 came back into the community,” she said. “So that’s not a bad investment.”

The change, she said, may mean the bureau approaches City Hall more often with funding requests for some events.

“We won’t be able to budget those kinds of things – we’ll have to ask to use that money for that purpose,” Billings said. “It’ll all come out in the wash, I think.”

Lawrence city commissioners will consider this issue Tuesday night as they put the final touches on the 2008 budget. They meet at 6:35 p.m. in City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets.