Since Gloucester has suffered with a depressed economy along with the rest of the country, tourism coordinator Jenny Graziano said she was surprised that the lodging tax received here for the last fiscal year was higher than estimated.

Graziano said Oct. 12 that she did not expect the county would collect a total of $118,003.31 in lodging tax for the fiscal year from July 1, 2009-June 30, 2010. She had thought the total would come to approximately $105,000, the amount projected for the FY2010 budget.

In FY 2009, Gloucester collected $111,770.54 in lodging tax, accounting manager Andy Scales said Oct. 13.

"That was great," Graziano said of the extra money being available to support tourism projects for Gloucester. The Gloucester County Board of Supervisors has appropriated the 4 percent lodging tax to tourism since its inception here in 1999.

Because of the tighter economy, Graziano expected to see fewer business lodging requests last year. However, she said that so...